HANDBOUND
AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF
TORONTO PRF5L<:
/337
HISTORY OF LABOUR IN
THE UNITED STATES
■• /
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
HISTORY OF LABOUR IN
THE UNITED STATES
BY
JOHN R. COMMONS
DAVID J. SAPOSS HELEN L. SUMNER
E. B. MITTELMAN H. E. HOAGLAND
JOHN B. ANDREWS SELIG PERLMAN
WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE
BY
HENRY W. FARNAM
Volume II
JTmb ^orfe
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1918
All rights reserve^
-4'^:
07
C^p ' ^
Copyright, 1918
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and printed. Published, April, 1918
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
By John R. Commons
PART I. COLONIAL AND FEDERAL BEGINNINGS
(TO 1827
By David J. Saposs
CHAPTER I
ORIGIN OF TRADE UNIONS I, 25
CHAPTER II
DEVELOPMENT OF BARGAINING CLASSES . I, 32
CHAPTER III
THE MERCHANT-CAPITALIST I, 88
CHAPTER IV
EARLY TRADE UNIONS I, 108
CHAPTER V
CORDWAINERS' CONSPIRACY CASES, 1806-1815 I, 138
CHAPTER VI
SIGNS OF AWAKENING, 1820-1827 I, 153
PART II. CITIZENSHIP (1827-1833)
By Helen L. Sumner
CHAPTER I
CAUSES OF THE AWAKENING I, 169
CHAPTER II
RISE AND GROWTH IN PHILADELPHIA . . I, 185
V
■ \
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER III
WORKINGMEN'S PARTIES IN NEW YORK . . I, 231
CHAPTER IV
SPEED OF THE MOVEMENT I, 285
CHAPTER V
NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FARMERS,
MECHANICS AND OTHER WORKINGMEN I, 302
CHAPTER VI
RESULTS OF THE AWAKENING I, 326
PART III. TRADE UNIONISM (1833-1839)
By Edward B. Mittelman
CHAPTER I
THE TURN TO TRADE UNIONISM . . . . I, 335
CHAPTER II
THE CITY TRADES' UNION I, 357
CHAPTER III
TRADE UNIONISM IN ACTION I, 381
CHAPTER IV
THE NATIONAL TRADES' UNION I, 424
CHAPTER V
PREMATURE NATIONAL TRADE UNIONS . . I, 439
CHAPTER VI
DISINTEGRATION I, 454
APPENDICES
I FIRST DATES ON WHICH TRADE SOCIE-
TIES APPEARED IN NEW YORK, BAL-
TIMORE, PHILADELPHIA, AND BOS-
TON, 1833-1837 I, 472
II STRIKES, 1833-1837 I, 478
CONTENTS vii
PART IV. HUMANITARIANISM (1840-1860)
By Henry E. Hoagland
CHAPTER I
DEPRESSION AND IMMIGRATION I, 487
CHAPTER II
ASSOCIATION AND CO-OPERATION . . . . I, 493
CHAPTER III
THE NEW AGRARIANISM I, 522
CHAPTER IV
THE TEN-HOUR MOVEMENT I, 536
CHAPTER V
THE INDUSTRIAL CONGRESSES I, 547
CHAPTER VI
CO-OPERATIVE UNIONISM I, 564
CHAPTER VII
THE NEW TRADE UNIONISM I, 575
PART V. NATIONALISATION (1860-1877)
By John B. Andrews
CHAPTER I
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS II, 3
New Conditions. Railway construction, 3. Through-freight lines, 4.
Railway consolidations, 4. Appearance of the wholesale jobber, 5. The
first national trade unions, 5.
The Moulders. William H. Sylvis, 6. The effect of the extension of the
market on the moulder's trade, 6. The national union, 7. Its weakness, 7.
The Machinists and Blacksmiths. Evils in the trade, 8. The national
union, 9. Strike against the Baldwin Locomotive Works, 9. Outbreak
of the War depression, 9. Other national unions, 10.
Unemployment and Impending War. The workingmen's opposition to
war, 10. Louisville and Philadelphia, 10. Fort Sumter and labour's
change of attitude, 11.
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER II
THE WAR PERIOD, 1861-1865 II, 13
War and Prices. The lethargy of the trade unions, 13. Legal ten-
der acts, 14. War prosperity and its beneficiaries, 14. Cost of living and
wages, 15.
The Labour Press. Fincher's Trades' Review, 15. The Workmgmaai's
Advocate, 16. The Daily Evening Voice, 16. Other papers, 17.
Local Unions. The incentive for organisation, 17. The wave of or-
ganisation during the war, 18.
The Trades' Assemblies. Progress of the trades' assemblies, 22. Strikes,
23. Functions of the trades' assemblies, 23. The Philadelphia trades'
assembly, a typical assembly, 24.
Employers' Associations. Local and national associations, 26. The
Employers' General Association of Michigan, 26. The reply of the trade
unions, 29. Kichard V. Trevellick, 29, New York Masters Builders' Asso-
ciation, 29. Master Mechanics of Boston, 30. The associated employers
and the eight-hour movement of 1872, 31. The attempted " exclusive agree-
ment," 32. Attitude towards trade agreements, 33.
International Industrial Assembly of North America. The national
trade unions and federation, 33, The trades' assemblies and federation,
34. The Louisville call, 34. The convention in Louisville, 35. Assistance
during strikes, 36. Attitude towards co-operation and legislation, 37.
The constitution and the national trade unions, 37. Politics, 38. Causes
of failure, 38.
Distributive Co-operation. Cost of living, 39. Thomas Phillips, 39.
The Rochdale plan, 40. The turn towards productive co-operation, 41.
CHAPTER III
THE NATIONAL TRADE UNIONS, 1864-1873 . . II, 42
Causes and General Progress. Effect of the nationalisation of the mar-
ket, 43. National trade unions in thirties, 43. The effect of national
labour competition, 44. Effect of employers' associations, 44, Effect of
machinery and the division of labour, 44. Organisation of national trade
unions, 1861-1873, 45. Growth of their membership, 47. The national
trade union — the paramount aspect of nationalisation, 48.
The Moulders. Epitomise the labour movement, 48. Activities during
the war, 48. Beginning of employers' associations, 49. Lull in the organ-
isation of employers during the period of prosperity, 49. West and
East, 50. American National Stove Manufacturers' and Iron Founders'
Association, 50. Apprenticeship question, 50. The strike in Albany and
Troy, 51. Withdrawal of the Buffalo and St. Louis foundrymen from
the Association, 51. The general strike against wage reductions, 51.
Defeat of the union, 52. Restriction on strikes by the national union,
52. Turn to co-operation, 53. Sylvis' view on the solution of the labour
question, 53. Co-operative shops, 53. The Troy shops, 54. Their busi-
ness success but failure as co-operative enterprises, 54. Disintegration
of the employers' association, 55. Revival of trade unionism, 55.
Machinists and Blacksmiths. The intellectual ascendency in the labour
movement, 56. Employers' associations, 56. Effect of the depression, 57.
Effect of the eight-hour agitation on the union, 57. Revival in 1870,
58.
Printers. The National Typographical Union, 58. " Conditional mem-
bership," 58. The national strike fund, 59. The persistent localist ten-
dency, 59. Northwestern Publishers' Association, 61.
Locomotive Engineers. The cause of nationalisation, 61. Piece work,
CONTENTS ix
62. Brotherhood of the Footboard, 62. Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers, 62. Charles Wilson and his attitude towards public opinion, 63.
Strike on the Michigan Southern, 64. The railway's blacklist, 64. The
brotherhood's attitude towards incorporation, 65. The brotherhood con-
servatism, 65. Discontent of the local branches, 66. Wilson's incorpora-
tion move, 66. Failure in Congress, 67. Growth of the opposition to
Wilson, 67. His removal from office, 67. P. M. Arthur, 67. The benefit
system, 68.
Cigar Makers. Effect of the war revenue law, 69. Growth of the
international union, 1864-1869, 70. The introduction of the mould, 71.
The strike against the mould, 72. The attitude towards the mould of the
conventions of 1867 and 1872, 72. Failure of the anti-mould policy, 73.
Coopers. Effect of the machine, 74. Martin A. Foran, 75. Career of the
International Coopers' Union, 75. Robert Schilling, 76. Co-operative at-
tempts, 76.
Knights of St. Crispin. The factory system, 76. " Green hands," 77.
Aim of the Crispins, 77. Crispin strikes, 78. Their principal causes, 78.
Attitude towards co-operation, 79.
Sons of Vulcan. The puddler's bargaining advantage, 80. The sliding
scale agreement, 80.
Restrictive Policies Apprenticeship. Beginning of restrictive policies, 81.
Effect of the wider market on apprenticeship, 81. Effect of the increased
scale of production, 81. " Botches," 82. Sylvis' view, 82. Limitation of
numbers, 82. Policies of the national trade unions, 83. Regulation of
apprenticeship in the printer's trade, 83.
CHAPTER IV
THE NATIONAL LABOR UNION, 1866-1872 . . II, 85
The Labour Movement in Europe and America. Eight-hour ques-
tion, 87. Ira Steward and his wage theory, 87. Stewardism contrasted
with socialism, 90. Stewardism and trade-unionism, 91. Stewardism and
political action, 91. Boston Labor Reform Association, 91. Grand
Eight-Hour League of Massachusetts, 92. Massachusetts labour politics,
93. Labour politics in Philadelphia, 93. Fincher's opposition to politics,
93. Return of the soldiers — a stimulus to the eight-hour movement, 94.
The question of national federation, 94, The move by trades' assemblies,
94. New York State Workingmen's Assembly, 95. The move by the na-
tional trade unions, 96. The compromise, 96.
Labour Congress of 1866. Representation, 96. Attitude toward trade
unionism and legislation, 98. The eight-hour question at the congress,
98. Resolution in political action, 99. The land question, 100. Co-
operation, 101. Form of organisation, 101.
Eight Hours and Politics. Congressional election of 1866, 102. In-
dependent politics outside Massachusetts, 103. Eight-hours before Con-
gress, 104. Eight-hours before President Johnson, 104. Eight-hours be-
fore the General Court of Massachusetts, 105. The special commission of
1865, 106. The commission of 1866, 107. E. H. Rogers, 107. Eight-hour
bills in other States, 108. Causes of the failure, 109.
Co-operation. Co-operative workshops. 111. Productive co-operation in
various trades. 111.
Labour Congress of 1867. Activity of the National Labor Union dur-
ing the year, 112. Address to the Workingmen of the United States, 113.
Viewpoint of the " producing classes," 114. Representation at the Con-
gress of 1867, 115. The constitution, 116. The immigrant question and
the American Emigrant Company, 117. The question of the Negro, 118.
Greenbackism. The popularity of greenbackism among the various ele-
X CONTENTS
ments at Labour Congress, 119. A. C. Cameron, 119. Alexander Camp-
bell, 120. The " new KelloggLsm," 121. Greenbackism contrasted with
socialism and anarchism, 121. Greenbackism as a remedy against de-
pressions, 122. "Declaration of Principles," 122. The depression, 1866-
1868, 123. Progress of co-operation, 124.
Eight Hours. Government employes and the eight-hour day, 124. The
Labour Congress of 1868, 125. The conference on the presidential elec-
tion, 125. Representation at the congress, 126. Women delegates, 127.
Discussion on greenbackism, 128. Discussion on strikes, 129. The first
lobbying committee, 130. Sylvis' presidency, 130.
The International Workingmen's Association. International regulation
of immigration, 131. Sylvis' attitude towards the International, 132.
Sylvis' death, 132, Cameron's mission to Basle, 132.
Labour Congress of 1869. Representation, 133. Effect of Sylvis' death,
134.
The Negroes. Invasion of industries, 134. Causes of their separate or-
ganisation, 135. Maryland State Coloured Labour Convention of 1869, 136.
Supremacy of the politicians, 137.
Politics in Massachusetts. New England Labour Reform League, 138.
American proudhonism and the intellectuals, 139. The Ctispins and poli-
tics, 140. The State Labour Reform Convention, 140. The Crispins and
incorporation, 140. The State campaign of 1869, 141. Boston municipal
election, 142. Wendell Phillips and the State election of 1870, 143. The
end of labour politics in Massachusetts, 144.
Labour Congress of 1870. The Negro question, 144. Decision to call a
political convention, 145. Changes in the constitution, 146.
Chinese Exclusion. The industrial situation in California during the
sixties, 147. Early anti-Chinese movement in California, 147. The Me-
chanics' State Council, 148. The effect of the transcontinental railway on
the California industries, 148. The National Labor Union and the Chinese
question in 1869, 149. The North Adams, Mass., incident, 149. The Bur-
lingame treaty with China, 149. The National Labor Union and the Chi-
nese question in 1870, 150.
Revival of Trade Unionism. Stopping the contraction of the currency,
151. Eight-hour strike movements in 1872, 151. New and aggressive lead-
ers, 152. Abandonment of the National Labor Union by the national trade
unions, 152. The Crispins — the exception, 152.
Politics and Dissolution. Horace H. Day, 153. The "industrial" con-
vention of 1871, 153. The political convention, 154. Nomination for
President, 154. Failure and dissolution, 155.
CHAPTER V
DISINTEGRATION, 1873-1877 II, 156
Industrial Congress and Industrial Brotherhood, 1873-1875. The fresh
impulse towards national federation, 157. Joint call by the national
traxie unions, 157. Guarantee against politics, 158. The circular, 158.
The Cleveland Congress, 159. Representation, 159. The trade union na-
ture of the proceedings, 159. The constitution, 160. Attitude towards co-
operation, 161. Attitude towards politics, 161. Effect of the financial
panic on the new federation, 161. Congress in Rochester, 161. Represen-
tation and the secret orders, 162. Debate on the constitution, 162. The
minority recommendation of secret organisation, 163. Defeat of secrecy,
163. The Industrial Brotherhood, 163. The Preamble, 164. Robert
Schilling, 164. The money question, 164. Arbitration, 165. Other de-
mands, 165. Politics, 165. The Congress in Indianapolis, 166. The
dropping out of the national trade unions, 166. The new constitution with
CONTENTS xi
organisation by States as its basis, 167. End of the Industrial Brother-
hood, 167.
Greenback Party, 1874-1877. Patrons of Husbandry, 168, Anti-mo-
nopoly political movement, 168. The Indianapolis convention, 168. The
Cleveland convention of farmers and mechanics, 169. The " Independent "
or Greenback party, 169. The anti-monopoly convention, 169. National
conference in Cincinnati, 169. Fusion with the Greenback party, 170.
The nominating convention of 1876, 170. Representation, 170. Green-
backism — a remedy against depression, 170. Peter Cooper's candidacy,
171. The campaign, 171. Results, 171.
Sovereigns of Industry. Co-operation, East and West, 171. Wil-
liam H. Earle, 172. Elimination of the middleman, 172, Constitution
of the Sovereigns of Industry, 173. Membership, 1874-1877, 173, Ac-
tivities, 174. Relation to trade unions, 174. Relation to the Industrial
Congress, 175, Failure of the Sovereigns of Industry, 175.
National and Local Unions. The weak points in the trade unions of ,
the sixties, 175. The depression, 175. Labour leaders and politics, 175. "'
The westward migration, 176. Decrease in membership, 1873-1874, 176,
The trades' assembly, 177. The cigar makers' strike against the tenement
house system, 177. Strikes in the textile industry, 178, The Amalga-
mated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, 179. The trade agreement,
179. Bituminous coal miners' organisation, 179. John Siney, 179. Mark
Hanna, 180. The trade agreement, 180. The umpire's decision in 1874,
under the trade agreement, 180. Failure of the agreement, 180.
The Molly Maguires. Trade unionism versus violence, 181, The Ancient
Order of Hibernians, 182, Influence over local politics, 182, Crimes of
the Mollies, 183, James McParlan, 184, The "long strike," 184, The
wrecking of the union, 185, Growth of the influence of the Mollies, 185.
Arrest and trial of the Mollies, 185.
The Great Strikes of 1877. Reduction in wages of the railway men,^'
185. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 185. The Trainmen's
Union, 186. Robert H, Ammon, 186. The plan for a strike, 187. Fail-
ure, 187. The unorganised outbreak, 187. The Martinsburg and Balti-
more riots, 187, Pittsburgh riots, 188. State militia, 189. Federal
troops, 190. Effect of the strikes on public opinion, 190. Effect on sub-
sequent court decisions in labour cases, 191.
PART VI. UPHEAVAL AND REORGANISATION
(Since 1876)
By Selig Peelman
CHAPTER I
SECRET BEGINNINGS II, I95
Employers' opposition to trade unions during the period of depression, .\^
195. Necessity for secrecy, 195. Beginning of the Knights of Labor,
196. Uriah S. Stephens, 197. Assembly 1 of Philadelphia, 197. " So-
i'ourners," 198. Ritual and principles, 198. Additional assembles, 199.
Mstrict Assembly 1 of Philadelphia, 199. District Assembly 2 of Cam-
den, New Jersey, 199. District Assembly 3 of Pittsburgh, 199. Recruit-
ing ground of the Knights, 200. Strikes and strike funds, 200. Rivalry
between District Assembly 1 and District Assembly 3, 200. The issue of
secrecy, 201. Attitude of the Catholic Church, 201, Junior Sons of '76
and their call for a national convention, 201.
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER II
REVOLUTIONARY BEGINNINGS II, 203
The International Workingmen's Association. Its emphasis on trade
unionism, 204. Its attitude towards political action, 205. Lassalle's
programme, and the emphasis on political action, 206. Forerunners of the
International in America, 206. The Communist Club, 206. F. A. Sorge,
207. The General German Workingmen's Union and its Lassallean pro-
gramme, 207. The Social party of New York and vicinity, 208. Failure
and reorganisation, 209. TJnion 6 of the National Labor Union and Sec-
tion 1 of the International, 209. New Sections of the International, 209.
The Central Committee, 210. The native American forerunner of the
International, 210. Section 12, and its peculiar propaganda, 211. Rup-
ture between foreigners and Americans in the International, 211. The
Provisional Federal Council, 212. Two rival Councils, 212. Decision of
General Council in London, 213. The American Confederation of the In-
ternational and its attitude on the question of the powers of the Gen-
eral Council, 213. The North American Federation of the International,
214. The Internationalist Congress at The Hague and the defeat of
Bakunin by Marx, 214. Transfer of the General Council to New York,
215. Secession of a majority of the European national federations, 215.
Section 1 of New York and the Local Council, 216. Abolition of the
Local Council, 216. Secession of six sections, 217. The national conven-
tion of 1874 and the resolution on politics, 218. Adolph Strasser, 218.
The panic and unemployment, 219. Organisation of the unemployed, 219.
The riot on Tompkins Square, 220. John Swinton, 220. Organisation
among the unemployed in Chicago, 220. Section 1 of New York and the
struggle for the control of the Arbeiter-Zeitung, 221. The United
Workers of America, 222. P. J. McDonnell, 222.
The International and the Trade Union Movement. Lack of response
among the native American workingmen, 223. Success among the Ger-
mans, 223. Die Arbeit er-Union, 223. Adolph Douai, 224. Temporary
sway of greenbackism among the Germans, 224. Victory of the ideas of
the International, 225. The Franco-Prussian War and the discontinuance
of Die Arbeit er-Union, 225. Organisation of the furniture workers, 225.
The German American Typographia, 226. The Amalgamated Trades and
Labour Council of New York, 226.
Lassalleanism and Politics. The eflFect of the industrial depression
on the spread of Lassalleanism, 227. The Labor party of Illinois and its
form of organisation, 228. Its attitude toward trade unionism and poli-
tics, 228. Temporary Lassalleanisation of the sections of the International
in Chicago, 229. The Labor party of Illinois in politics, 229. Overtures
to farmers, 230. The return to the principles of the International, 230.
The Lassallean movement in the East — The Social Democratic party of
North America, 230. The first national convention, 231. Peter J.
McGuire, 231. Reasons for Strasser's joining the Lassalleans, 231. The
Sozial-Demokrat, 232. The change of sentiment in favour of trade union-
ism, 232. The second convention of the Social Democratic party and the
partial return to the tenets of the International, 233. Attempts towards
unification, 233. The remaining divergence of ideas, 233. Preparations for
the national labour convention in Pittsburgh, 234.
CHAPTER III
ATTEMPTED UNION — THE PITTSBURGH
CONVENTION OF 1876 II, 235
The preliminary convention at Tyrone, Pennsylvania, and the two re-
ports on a platform, 235. Discontinuity of tfie Pittsburgh convention
CONTENTS xiii
from all preceding labour conventions, 236. The socialist draft of a plat-
form, 237. The Greenback draft by the committee on resolutions, 237.
Victory of the greenbackers and the withdrawal of the socialists, 238,
Other planks in the platform, 238. Negative attitude towards politics,
238. Recommendation to organise secretly, 239. Failure to establish a
permanent national federation of all labour organisations, 239.
CHAPTER IV
THE GREENBACK LABOR AGITATION, 1876--
1880 II, 240
The change in labour's attitude towards politics produced by the great
strikes of 1877, 240. Organisation of the National party, 241. Fusion
with the greenbackers, 241. State labour ticket in New York, 242. The
" Greenback and Labor " combination in Pennsylvania, 242. Success of
the Greenback party in the West, 244. The " national convention of
labour and currency reformers " and the formation of the National party,
244. Predominance of the farmers, business men, and lawyers, 244. Plat-
form, 245. Further Greenback successes, 245. T. V. Powderly, 245. Con-
gressional election of 1878, 245. Obstacles to a unified movement in New
York City, 246. " Pomeroy Clubs," 246. The organisation of the Na-
tional Greenback Labor Reform party, 246. State election in Pennsyl-
vania, 247. Analysis of the vote, 247. State election in Ohio, 248. Sue- ,
cesses elsewhere, 248. Effect of the returning industrial prosperity, 249.y
Effect of the resumption of specie payment, 249. Tendency to fuse with
the Democrats, 249. National pre-nomination conference, 249, Denis
Kearney and Albert R. Parsons, 249. National nominating convention,
250. Labour demands, 250. Failure of the movement, 261.
CHAPTER V
THE ANTI-CHINESE AGITATION IN CALI-
FORNIA II, 252
Class struggle versus race struggle, 252. The depression in Cali-
fornia, 253. Socialists and the strike movement, 253. The anti-Chinese
riot, 253. Denis Kearney, 254. The Workingmen's party of California,
255. Its platform, 255. The sand-lot meetings, 253. Arrest of Kear-
ney, 256. Nomination of delegates for the State constitutional con-
vention, 256. Threats of riots and the " Gag Law," 257. Kearney's ac-
quittal, 258. The state convention of the Workingmen's party, 258. First
successes in elections, 259. Election for the state constitutional con-
vention, 260. Alliance of the workingmen with the farmers, 260. The
anti-Chinese clause in the Constitution, 260. Adoption of the constitu-
tion by the people, 261. The workingmen's success in the state election,
261. Success in the San Francisco municipal election, 261. Movement
for the enforcement of the anti-Chinese clause in the state constitution,
262. Success in the state legislature but failure in the United States Cir-
cuit Court, 262. Second arrest of Kearney, 262. Beginning of the dis-
integration of the Workingmen's party, 263. Defeat in elections, 263.
Relation to the national Greenback movement, 263. The end of the party,
264. Spread of the anti-Chinese movement among small employers, 264.
The question before Congress, 265. The Congressional investigating com-
mittee, 265. Increase in the Chinese immigration during the early
eighties, 266. The Representative Assembly of Trade and Labor Unions,
266. The white label, 266. The state labour convention, the League of
Deliverance, and the boycott of Chinese made goods, 267. The Chinese
Exclusion Act, 26^
VfO
xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER VI
FROM SOCIALISM TO ANARCHISM AND SYN-
DICALISM, 1876-1884 II, 269
The Nationalised International. The preliminary union conference of
all socialist organisations, 269. The Union Congress, 270. The Work-
ingmen's party of the United States, 270. The resolution on political ac-
tion, 270. Plan of organisation, 270. " Trade union " and " political "
factions, 271. Phillip Van Patten, 272. The New Haven experiment
Avith politics, 272. The Chicago election, 273. Factional differences, 273.
Struggle for the Labour Standard, 274. Douai's effort of mediation, 275.
Effect of the great strike of 1877 on the factional struggle, 276. The
part played by the socialists in the strike movement, 277.
The Rush into Politics. Election results, 277. The Newark con-
vention, 277. Control by the political faction, 278. The Socialist La-
bor party, 278. Strength of the trade union faction in Chicago, 279.
Success in the Chicago election, 279. Failure in Cincinnati, 279. Van
Patten's attitude towards trade unions, 280. Workingmen's military-
organisations, 280. Autumn election of 1870, 282. Chicago — the principal
socialist centre, 282. Influence in the state legislature. 283. Chicago
municipal election of 1879, 284. Persistent pro-trade union attitude of
tlie Chicago socialists, 284. Effect of prosperity, 284. The national con-
vention at Alleghany City, 284. Differences of opinion on a compromise
with the greenbackers, 285. National greenback convention, 285. The " so-
cialist " plank in the platform, 286. The double revolt: the "trade
union " faction and the revolutionists in the East, 287. Attitude of the
New Yorker Volkszeitung, 287. Referendum vote, 288. The decrease in
the greenback vote, 289. Struggle between the compromisers and non-com-
promisers in the socialist ranks, 289.
The Evolution towards Anarchism and " Syndicalism." Chicago and
New York, 291. The national convention of revolutionary socialists, 291.
Affiliation with the International Working People's Association in Lon-
don, 291. Attitude towards politics and trade unionism, 292. August
Spies, 292. The proposed form of organisation, 292. Political action in
Qiicago once more, 292. Reorganisation in Chicago along revolutionary
lines, 292. Johann Most and his philosophy, 293. The Pittsburgh
convention and Manifesto, 295. Crystallisation of a " syndicalist " phi-
losophy in Chicago, 296. Attitude towards the state, trade unionism
politics, and violence, 296. A model " syndicalist " trade union, 296. The
Red International,, 298. Burnette G. Haskell and Joseph R. Buchanan,
298. Ebb of the Socialist Labor party, 300.
CHAPTER VII
THE NEW TRADE UNIONISM, 1878-1884 ... II, 301
From Socialism to Pure and Simple Trade Unionism. Two lines of
trade union action, 302. The plan for the organisation of the un-
skilled — The International Labor Union, 302. " Internationalism " and
stewardism, 302. Trade unionism and eight-hour legislative action, 303.
Programme of the International Labor Union, 303. Success among the
textile workers, 304. First convention, 305. Steps towards an interna-
tional trade union organisation, 305. Failure of the International La-
bor Union, 306. International Cigar Makers' Union — the new model
for the organisations of the skilled, 306. Strasser and Gompers, 307.
Crystallisation of the pure and simple trade union philosophy, 308. The
railway brotherhoods, 309.
The First Successes. 'Trades' assemblies and their functions: economic,
CONTENTS XV
political, and legislative, 310. The building trades' councils, the first
move toward industrialism, 312. The federations of the water-
front trades in the South, 312. The Negro, 312. The formation of
new national trade unions, 313. Their increase in membership,
1879-1883, 313. The control over locals, 314. Their benefit features,
314. Their attitude towards legal incorporation, 314. Predominance"^,
of the foreign-speaking element in the trade unions, 315. The charge (
that the foreigners in the trade unions deprive the American boy of his \
opportunity in industry, 315. Strikes in 1880 and 1881, 316. the iron
workers' strike in 1882, 316. The boycott, 316. The New York Tribune _
boycott, 317.
towards Federation. The attempts towards national federation since
1876, 318. The part played by the Knights of Labor in the last and
successful attempt, 318. The Terre Haute conference, 318. Call for a
convention, 320. Trade unions in the eighties and trade unions today,
320. The Pittsburgh convention of 1881, 321. The cause of the large repre-
sentation of the Knights of Labor, 321. The formation of the Federa-
tion of Organised Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and
Canada, 322. Attitude toward organising the unskilled, 323. Subordina-
tion of the city trades' assembly to the national trade union, 323. Legisla-
tive committee and the legislative programme, 324. The incorporation
plank, 325. The shift from the co-operation argument to the one of trade
agreements on the question of incorporation, 326. Second convention of ^
the Federation, 326. Absence of the Knights of Labor and the iron and
steel workers, 326. Lack of interest in the Federation on the part of the
trade unions, 327. Convention of 1883, 328. The first appearance of
friction with Knights of Labor, 329, Attitude towards a protective tariff
329. Miscellaneous resolutions, 330. Failure of the Federation as an
organisation for obtaining legislation, 331.
CHAPTER VIII
END OF SECRECY IN THE KNIGHTS AND
DEVIATION FROM FIRST PRINCIPLES,
1876-1884 II, 332
Secrecy and the movement for centralisation, 332. District Assem-
bly 1 and the convention at Philadelphia, 1876, 333. The National
Labor League of North America, 333. District Assembly 3 and the
convention at Pittsburgh, 333. Lull in the movement for centralisation,
334. The Knights and the railway strikes of 1877, 334. Other strikes,
334. The General Assembly at Reading, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1878,
334. The Preamble, 335. First principles: education, organisation, and
co-operation, 335. Form of organisation, 337. Special convention on the
secrecy question, June, 1878, 338. Referendum vote, 338. The Catholic
Church and secrecy in the Knights, 339. The compromise in 1879, 339.
Final abolition of secrecy in 1881, 339. Growth and fluctuation in
membership, 1878-1880, 339. The resistance fund, 340. Claims of the
advocates of co-operation and education, 340. The compromise, 341.
Compromise on political action, 341. Demands of the trade union element
within the Knights, 342. National trade assembly, 343. Growth and
fluctuation of membership, 1880-1883, 344. Component elements of the
Knights, 344. Unattached local unions, 344. Weak national organisa-
tions, 345. Advantages to an incipient trade movement from affiliation
with the Knights, 346. T. V. Powderly — Grand Master Workman in 1881,
347. Enthusiasm for strikes, 347. The telegraphers' strike in 1883, ^
348. Unorganised strikes, 349. The freight handlers' strike in New York, i
349. Failure of the strikes conducted by the Knights, 349. Its effect on '
xvi CONTENTS
the fluctuation of membership, 350. Political faction, 350. Nonpartisan
politics, 351. Partiality of the general officers for co-operation, 351. Inde-
pendent politics in the West, 352. Co-operative beginnings, 352, Atti-
tude of the trade unions towards the EJiights, 352. Their endeavour to
turn the Knights back to " First Principles," 352. General summary,
1876-1884, 353.
CHAPTER IX
THE GREAT UPHEAVAL, 1884-1886 .... II, 356
The New Economic Conditions. The difference between the labour move-
ments in the early and the middle eighties, 357. The unskilled, 357.
Extension of the railways into outlying districts, 358. Resultant inten-
sification of competition among mechanics, 358. The industrial expan-
sion, 358. Growth of cities, 359. Extension of the market and the su-
premacy of the wholesale jobber, 359. The impossibility of trade agree-
ments, 359. Pools, 360. Immigration, 360. Exhaustion of the public do-
main, 360. Peculiarities of the depression, 1883-1885, 361, Reduc-
tions in wages, 361. The effect of the depression on the other economic
classes, 362. Anti-monopoly slogan, 362.
Strikes and Boycotts, 1884-1885. Fall River spinners* strike, 362.
Troy stove mounters' strike, 363. Cincinnati cigar makers' strike, 363.
Hocking Valley coal miners' strike, 363. Vogue of the boycott, 364. Ex-
tremes in boycotting, 365. Boycott statistics, 1884-1885, 365. Resump-
tion of the strike movement, 366. Saginaw Valley, Michigan strike, 366.
Quarrymen's strike in Illinois, 367. Other strikes, 367. Shopmen's strikes
on the Union Pacific in 1884, and the Knights of Labor, 367. Joseph
R. Buchanan, 367. The Gould railway strike in 1885, 368. Gould's
surrender, 369. Its enormous moral effect, 370. The general press and
Order, 370. Keen public interest in the Order, 370. The New York Sun
" story," 371. Effect on Congress, 372. The contract immigrant labour evil,
372. Situation in the glass-blowing industry, 372. The Knights and the
anti-contract labour law, 372. " The Knights of Labor — the liberator
of the oppressed," 373. Beginning of the upheaval, 373. Unrestrained
class hatred, 374. Labour's refusal to arbitrate disputes, 374. Readiness
to commit violence, 374.
The Eight-Hour Issue and the Strike. Growth of trade unions, 375.
, New trade unions formed, 1884-1885, 375. Convention of the Federa-
tion of Organised Trades and Labor Unions in 1884, 376. Eight-
hour issue, 376. Invitation to the Knights to co-operate, 377. Referen-
dum vote by the affiliated organisations, 377. Advantage to the trade
unions from the eight-hour issue, 378. Lukewarmness of the national
leaders of the Knights, 378. Powderly's attitude, 378. Enthusiasm
of the rank and file, 379. Pecuniary interest of the Order's organisers in
furthering the eight-hour agitation, 379. Marvellous increase in the mem-
bersiiip of the Knights, 381. Membership statistics for various States,
381. Racial composition, 382. Composition by trades, 382. The pace
of organisation in Illinois by months, 382. The Southwest railway strike,
383. Its cause, 383. Its unusual violence, 383. Its failure, 384. The
eight-hour strike, 385. Degree of its immediate success, 385. Its ultimate
failure, 385. Unequal prestige of the Knights and the trade unions as a
result of the strike, 385.
The Chicago Catastrophe. Effect of the Haymarket bomb on the eight-
hour strike, 386, Spread of the " syndicalists " influence among the Ger-
man trade unions in 1884, 386. Formation of the Central Labor
Union, 387. Its relation to the " syndicalists," 387. Its declaration of
principles, 388. Relation of individual trade unions to the " syndicalists "
in Chicago and St. Louis, 388. Agitation among the English speaking
CONTENTS xvu
element, 389. The Alarm, 389. Strength of the Black International in
Chicago and elsewhere, 390. Attitude of the Chicago Central Labour Union
towards the eight-hour movement, 391. Eight-Hour Association of Chicago,
391. The McCormick Reaper Company lockout, 392. Beginning of the
eight-hour strike in Chicago, 392. Riot near the McCormick works, 392.
The " revenge circular," 392. The meeting of protest on Haymarket
Square, 393. The bomb, 393. The trial, 394. Attitude of labour organ-
isations, 394. Governor Altgeld's Reasons for Pardoning Fielden, etc.,
393. Judge Gary's reply, 393.
CHAPTER X
THE AFTERMATH, 1886-1887 II, 395
The Knights and the Federation. New National trade unions, 396.
EflForts of the Knights to annex the skilled unions to strengthen the
bargaining power of the unskilled, 397. Resistance of the skilled, 397.
Situation in the early eighties, 397. Beginning of aggression, 398. IMs-
trict Assembly 49, of New York, 399. Conflict with the International Cigar
Makers' Union, 399. The split in the latter, 399. Support of the seceders
by District Assembly 49, 400. The strike in New York in January,
1886, 400. The settlement with District Assembly 49, 400. The fusion
of the secessionists from the International Cigar Makers' Union with
District Assembly 49, 401. Widening of the struggle, 401. Gompers'
leadership, 402. General appeal to the trade unions, 402. Conflicts be-
tween the Knights and other trade unions, 402. Trade union conference
in Philadelphia, 403. The "address," 404. The proposed treaty, 405.
Reply of the Knights, 406. Refusal of the skilled trades to be used as a
lever by the unskilled, 407. Further negotiations, 408. Declaration of
war by the Knights, 408. Impetus for the complete unification of the
trade unions, 409. Convention of the Federation of Organised Trades and
Labor Unions in 1886, 410. The American Federation of Labor, 410.
Its paramount activity — economic, 410. Another effort for a settlement,
411. The outcome, 411. Arbitrary action of District Assembly 49 of
New York, 412. Return of the secessionist cigar makers to the Interna-
tional Union, 412. The Order's new conciliatory attitude, 412. Non-
conciliatory attitude of the unions, 413.
The Subsidence of the Knights. Beginning of the backward tide in
the Order, 413. The employers' reaction, 414. Forms of employers' asso-
ciations, 414. Their aim, 4i4. Their refusal to arbitrate, 415. The means
for the suppression of the Order, 415, The Knights' and the employers'
attitude towards trade agreements, 416. The control over strikes in the
Order, 416. The control over boycotts, 417. The strikes during the second
half of 1886, 417. The Troy laundry workers' lockout, 418. The
knit-goods industry lockout, 418. The Chicago packing industry lockout,
418. Powderly's weakness, 420. The 'longshoremen's strike in New York
in 1887, 420. Its spread, 420. Its consequences, 421. The falling off in
the Order's membership, 422. The recession of the wave of the unskilled,
422. Growing predominance of the middle-class element in the Order, 423.
Success of the trade unions, 423. Chicago bricklayers' strike, 423. The
employers' association and the trade agreement, 424. The situation in
the bituminous coal industry, 425. The National Federation of Miners
and Mine Laborers, 425. Relations with the Order, 425. The " interstate "
trade agreement, 426. Drift towards trade union organisation within the
Order, 427. History of the national trade assemblies, 1880-1885, 427.
Fluctuation of the Order's policy, 427. Its cause, 427. Victory of the
national trade assembly idea, 427.
xviii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XI
THE FAILURE OF CO-OPERATION, 1884-1887 . II, 430
The attitude towards co-operation of the several component elements
of the Knights of Labor, 430. The inheritance from the sixties, 430.
Powderly's attitude, 431. Co-operation in the early eighties, 431. Cen-
tralised co-operation, 432. The change to decentralised co-operation, 432.
Statistics and nature of the co-operative enterprises, 433. Sectional dis-
tribution, 434. Co-operation among the coopers in Minneapolis, 434. The
General Co-operative Board, 435. John Samuel, 435. Difficulties of the
Board, 435. Participation by the Order, 436. Failure of the movement,
437. Its causes, 437. Lesson for the future, 438.
CHAPTER XII
THE POLITICAL UPHEAVAL, 1886-1887 ... II, 439
The Greenback Labor party, 439. The Butler campaign, 440.
New political outlook, 441. New York Central Labor Union, 441. Its
radical declaration of principles, 442. Early activities, 442. The con-
spiracy law, 443. Campaign of 1882, 444. The Theiss boycott case,
444. Decision to go into politics, 445. Henry George's life and philosophy,
446. Comparison with John Swinton, 447. California experiences, 447.
The " new agrarianism," 448. Availability as a candidate, 448. The
platform, 449. Attitude of the socialists, 449. The Democratic nomina-
tion, 450. George-Hewitt campaign, 450. The Leader, 451. The gen-
eral press, 451. Hewitt's view of the struggle, 452. George's view of the
struggle, 452. Reverend Dr. McGlynn, 453. Attitude of the Catholic
Church, 453. Powderly's attitude, 453. The vote, 453. Effect on the
old parties, 454. Beginning of friction with the socialists, 454. Choice
of a name for the party, 455. The "land and labour" clubs, 455. The
county convention and the party constitution, 455. The call for a state
convention, 456. Opposition of the socialists, 456. Their capture of the
Leader, 456. The Standard and the attack upon the Catholic hierarchy,
456. The Anti-poverty society, 456. George's attitude towards the purely
labour demands, 457. McMackin's ruling on the eligibility of socialists
to membership, 457. The struggle in the assembly districts, 458. Atti-
tude of the trade unions, 458. Gompers' attitude, 458. Unseating of
the socialist delegates at the state convention, 459. The new platform,
460. The revolt of the socialists, 460. The Progressive Labor party,
460. Swinton's nomination, 461. The vote, 461. Causes of the failure
of the movement, 461. The political movement outside New York, 461.
The labour tickets, 462. The labour platforms, 462. Success in the elec-
tions, 462. Attitude of the Federation, 463. Powderly's attitude, 464.
Efforts for national organisations, 464. The national convention in Cin-
cinnati, 465. National Union Labor party, 405. Labour's attitude to-
wards the new partv, 465. Spring elections of 1887, 466. Autumn
elections of 1887, 466. Spring elections of 1888, 467. Chicago so-
cialists, 467. The Union Labor party presidential nomination, 468. United
Labor party, 468. Predominance of the farmers in the Union Labor party,
468. Apostasy of many labour leaders, 469. Powderly's secret circular,
469. The vote, 469. The Order of the Videttes, 469.
CHAPTER XIII
REORGANISATION, 1888-1896 H, 471
The Perfection of the Class Alignment. Decreased influence of industrial
fluctuations, 472. The trade-agreement idea, 472. The huge corporation,
472. The courts, 473.
CONTENTS ,xix
The Progress of the Trade Unions. New unions, 473. The increase in \
membership, 474. Strikes during 1888, 474. The Burlington strike, ■
474. Resumption of the eight-hour struggle, 475. Action of the con-
vention of the Federation in 1888, 475. The agitational campaign, 476.
Selection of the carpenters as the entering wedge, 476. Their success,
477. The unwise selection of the miners to follow the carpenters, 477.
End of the eight-hour movement, 478. General appraisal of the move-
ment, 478. Backwardness of the bricklayers on the shorter hours ques-
tion, 478. The trade-agreement idea in the building trades, 479. The
closed shop, 479. The stove moulders' agreement, 480. Peculiarity of
the industry from the marketing standpoint. 480. Stove Founders' Na-
tional Defense Association, 480. The St. Louis strike, 481. Furtherl
strikes, 481. The national trade agreement of 1890, 481.
The Liquidation of the Knights of Labor. The decrease in member-
ship, 1886-1890, 482. Relative increase in importance of the rural
membership, 482. Increasing aversion to strikes, 483. Relation to the
Federation, 483. Grievances of the trade unions, 483. Rival local trade
organisations, 483. Mutual " scabbing," 484. Refusal of the Order to
participate in the eight-hour movement of 1890, 485. Final efforts for
a reconciliation, 486. Their failure, 486. Withdrawal from the Order
of the national trade assemblies, 486. The shoemakers, 486. The ma- . ^
chinists, 486. The spinners, 48f). Situation in the coal mining industry, j | ^
487. United Mine Workers of America, 487. Situation in the beer
brewing industry, 488. Increasing predominance of politics and of the
farmer element in the Order, 488. The Southern Farmers' Alliance, 488.
The pivotal r6le of the merchants in the southern economy, 488. The
Northern Farmers' Alliance, 489. The Shreveport session of the South-
ern Alliance, 1887, 490. The Agricultural Wheel, 490. The session
of the Southern Alliance in 1889 and the abandonment of co-operation
for legislative reform, 490. Alliance with the Knights of Labor, 491.
The common programme, 491. The middle-class character of the Knights,
492. Political successes in 1890, 492. The Knights and an independent
reform party, 493. The Cincinnati convention in 1891 and the People's
party, 494. ' The Omaha convention in 1892, 494. The election of J. R.
Sovereign as Grand Master Workman of the Knights, 494. His farmer
philosophy, 494.
The Reverses of the Trade Unions. Neglect of legislation by the Federa- \
tion, 495. The Homestead strike, 495. Negotiations for a new scale of }
wages, 496. Battle with the Pinkertons, 496. Defeat of the union and '
the elimination of unionism, 497. The miners' strike at Coeur d'Alfene,
497. Quelling the strike, 498. The switchmen's strike in Buffalo,
498. Its failure, 498. The coal miners' strike in Tennessee, 498. Its
failure, 499. The lesson, 499. Gompers' view, 499. The stimulus to in-
dustrial unionism, 500. Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway I
Union, 500. The panic of 1893, 501. Gompers' hopeful view, 501. I
Trade Unions and the Courts. The miners' strike, 501. The Pullman
strike, 502. The general managers' association, 502. Court injunctions,
502. Violence, 502. Arrests for contempt of court, 502. The Pullman
boycott, 503. Attitude of the Federation, 503. End of the strike, 503.
Court record of the labour unions during the eighties, 503. Evolution [
of the doctrine of conspiracy as applied to labour disputes, 504. The '
real significance of Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842), 504. The first in-
junctions, 504. The legal justifications, 505. The Sherman law an^ the
Interstate Commerce Act, 505. Stages in the evolution of the doctrine
that the^ right to do business is property, 505. The part of the doctrine
of conspiracy in the theory of the injunction, 507. Injunction during the
eighties, 507. The "blanket injunction," 507. The Ann Arbor in-
junction, 507. The Debs case, 508. Statutes against "labour conspira-
cies," 508.
XX CONTENTS
The Latest Attempt Towards a Labour Party. Causes of the change
on the question of politics, 509. Convention of the Federation in 1892,
509. The "political programme," 509. Gompers' attitude in 1893, 510.
The disputed plank 10, 511. Referendum vote, 511. Sporadic political
efforts, 1894, 511. Their failure, 512. Gompers' attack on the "political
programme," 512. The "legislative programme" at the convention in
1894, 513. Attitude of the convention in 1895, 513. The Federation and
the campaign of 1896, 514.
The Socialists and Labour Organisations. The factional struggle, 1887-
1889, 614. Final victory of the trade union faction, 515. Its hope of
winning the Federation over to socialism, 516. Relation to the New
York Central labour bodies, 516. Central Labor Federation, 516. The
socialist question at the convention of the Federation in 1890, 517.
Daniel De Leon and the new tactics, 517. The United Hebrew Trades,
518. Socialists and the Knights of Labor, 519. Socialist Trade and Labor
Alliance, 519. Concluding summary, 519.
CHAPTER XIV
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS (FROM 1896) . . II, 521
I Industrial Prosperity and the Growth of the Federation. The exten-
y i sion into new regions and into hitherto untouched trades, 522. Lack of
'^ [' success among the unskilled, 523. Industrial Workers of the World,
I 523. The floaters and the non-English speaking workingmen, 523. The
' success of the miners, 523. The garment workers' unions, 524. Progress
of the trade-agreement idea, 524. Its test during the anthracite miners'
strike in 1902, 525. The manufacturers' control over access to the
market, 525. The trust and its effect on unionism, 526. The " open shop
movement," 526. The structural iron industry, 526. The trade-agree-
ment outlook, 527. The awakening of the public to the existence of a
labour question, 527. The evolution of public opinion since the eighties,
528. The public and labour legislation, 528. Organised labour's luke-
warmness toward labour legislation, 529. Its cause, 529. Its effect on
the administration of labour laws, 530. The courts, 530. The Danbury
Hatters', the Adair, and the Buck's Stove and Range cases, 530. The
failure of lobbying, 531. "Reward your friends and punish your ene-
mies," 531. The alliance with the Democrats, 531. The socialists, 532.
The effect of the litigation and politics on economic organisation, 533.
Problem of the unskilled, 533. Three forms of industrialism, 533. The
" one big union," 533. Industrialism of the middle stratum, 534. " Craft
industrialism," 534. The National Building Trades' Council, 535. The
Structural Building Trades' Alliance and the theory of "basic" unions,
535. The Building Trades' Department, 536. Other departments, 536.
Forced amalgamations, 537. New conception of "craft autonomy," 537.
f The probable future structure of American labour organisations, 637.
*^ I The " concerted movement," 537.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY H, 541
General Survey, 541. Colonial and Federal Beginnings, 548. Citizen-
ship, 555. Trade Unionism, 561. Humanitarianism, 566. Nationalisation,
671. Upheaval and Reorganisation, 576.
PART FIVE
NATIONALISATION (1860-1877)
BY JOKN B. ANDREWS
HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE
UNITED STATES
CHAPTER I
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
New Conditions. Railway Construction. Through freight lines, 4.
Railway consolidations, 4, Appearance of the wholesale jobber, 5. The
first national trade unions, 5.
The Moulders. William H. Sylvis, 6. The effect of the extension of
the market on the moulder's trade, 6. The national union, 7. Its weak-
ness, 7.
The Machinists and Blacksmiths. Evils in the trade, 7. The national
union, 9. Strike against the Baldwin Locomotive Works, 9. The outbreak
of the War and depression, 9. Other national unions, 10.
Unemployment and Impending War. The workingmen's opposition to
War, 10. Louisville and Philadelphia, 10. Fort Sumter and labour's
change of attitude, 11.
While the country was engrossed in Civil War and Recon-
struction, the American labour movement developed for the first
time, almost unnoticed, its characteristic national features.
This period witnessed the distinctly American philosophies of
greenbackism and the eight-hour day; the rise of the agitation
for the exclusion of Oriental labour ; the invention of the trade
union label; the first national trade agreement; the establish-
ment of the first government bureau of labour ; the organisation
of the first permanent labour lobby at Washington; the enact-
ment of the first eight-hour legislation and the earliest laws
against " conspiracy " and ^' intimidation." The period also
saw the organisation of the first national employers' association,
and the first national labour party. Pre-eminently, it was the
period of nationalisation in the American labour movement.
Back of it all lay the nationalisation of the economic life of the
country.
The fifties had been a decade of extensive construction of
railroads. There was an increase from but 8,389 miles of rail-
3
4 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
way in 1850 to 30,793 in 1860. Before 1850 there was more
traffic by water than by rail. After 1860 the relative importance
of land and water transportation was reversed.
Furthermore, the most important railroad building during
the ten years preceding 1860 was the construction of east and
west trunk lines. There were seven such roads : the Western &
Atlanta connected the seaboard cities of Georgia with the Ten-
nessee Eiver in 1850; the New York & Erie was opened in
1851; the Pennsylvania, in 1852; the Baltimore & Ohio and
the Canadian Grand Trunk, in 1853 ; the New York Central,
as a result of consolidation, in 1854; and the Virginia system
was connected with the Nashville & Chattanooga and the Mem-
phis & Charleston roads in 1858. The western ends of these
lines were still points like Buffalo and Pittsburgh, rather than
Chicago or St. Louis, but alliance with contemporaneously con-
structed roads of the Middle West gave practically all of them an
outlet in the far West. During the sixties, owing to the War,
railway construction fell off to 16,090 miles, as against 22,404
during the preceding decade. Yet these years marked de-
velopments in the railway business which, from the standpoint
of the nationalisation of the market and the increase of com-
petition between manufacturing centres, were no less epoch-
making than the construction of the trunk lines. These were the
establishment of through lines for freight and the consolidation
of connecting roads.
The through-freight lines came into existence soon after the
beginning of the War, with the discontinuance of the Mississippi
Eiver as an outlet for western products and the necessity of
sending shipments eastward by rail. These lines, whether the
cars belonged to separate companies established for that purpose,
or to co-operating railway companies, greatly hastened freight
traffic by abolishing the necessity for transshipment.
The most notable consolidations were those of three im-
portant trunk lines: the Pennsylvania, the Erie, and the New
York Central & Hudson River. The Pennsylvania then pui^
chased the roads running west of Pittsburgh and thus obtained
direct connections with Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis.
The New York Central consolidated with the Hudson River &
Harlem Road at its eastern end, and in the West with the Lake
NATIONALISATION OF THE MARKET 5
Shore & Michigan Southern, forming direct connection between
New York and Chicago. The Erie increased its length from
459 miles to 1,355. Important consolidations were also made
by the Philadelphia & Reading and the other anthracite roads.
Among the western and southwestern lines which rapidly in-
creased their mileage were the Chicago & Northwestern, the Bur-
lington, and the Milwaukee & St. Paul.
Arteries of traffic had thus extended from the eastern coast to
the Mississippi Valley. Local markets had widened within
fifteen years to embrace half a continent. Stoves manufactured
in Albany were now displayed in St. Louis by the side of stoves
made in Detroit. Competition had increased and intensified.
This intensification of competition and the separation of pro-
ducers and consumers resulted in the development of the middle-
man as the dominant figure in industry. Through his extensive
purchasing opportunities and his specialised methods of reach-
ing customers, he possessed a kind of " intangible " capital by
which he dominated the market and, in consequence, credit.
The existence of this common oppressor — the wholesale job-
ber or middleman — was felt both by wage-earners and by em-
ployers, while farmers were in addition oppressed by the rail-
roads. As a natural consequence came the coalition of the " pro-
ducing classes '^ against " capital."
Spectacular also were the direct effects of the Civil War upon
labour in transforming an army of productive labourers into an
army of non-productive consumers, and then at the end of four
years suddenly pouring them back from the fields of battle upon
the fields of industry. But still more sweeping were the in-
direct effects of unprecedented fluctuations in prices and the cost
of living, which were closely linked with inflation and contrac-
tion of the paper currency.
The industrial depression which followed the panic of 1857
destroyed almost completely the modest beginnings of labour
organisation made during the preceding years. A large number
of the trade unions went under. Those, however, which were
able to withstand the stress were forced to combine with similar
organisations in .the same trade and to form national unions.
The two important national trade unions which were born un-
der these circumstances were the Molders' International Union
6 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
and the National Union of Machinists and Blacksmiths, both
established in 1859.
The leading spirit in the moulders' union was William H.
Sylvis, afterwards the first great figure in the American labour
movement. His career was typical of the period. Bom, in the
little village of Armagh, Pennsylvania, in 1828, his father's
failure in the business of wagon maker in 1837 forced him early
into apprenticeship in a foundry. First as journeyman, then
part proprietor of a foundry, then again as journeyman in
Philadelphia in 1852, he typified during this period in his life
the easy shift between skilled mechanic and small master.-^
The conditions which forced the moulders' union to the front
and made Sylvis the recognised head, not only of his own union,
but also of the entire movement of the sixties, are described by
Sylvis himself. Speaking of the intense competition brought
on by the extension of the railway to the West, and immediately
preceding the formation of the national union of moulders in
1859, he said:
" They [the employers] saw in the future a possibility of mo-
nopolizing almost the entire trade of the country, and set themselves
about doing so. In the first place, it was necessary for them to
mark out a line of policy, which, if closely followed, would insure
this result. This they did, and the first act of the drama (I might,
perhaps, more properly say tragedy, for it resulted in squeezing the
blood and tears from its victims), was to reduce their margin of
profits to the lowest possible standard, that they might go into the
market below all others. Owing to fluctuations in the price of ma-
terial, their profits would sometimes disappear entirely. This they
used as an argument to their workmen, telling them that owing to
the unfair competition of other manufacturers, they were unable
to advance their selling prices, and that being unable to compete
without loss they must either close up or reduce wages. The men
being unorganised and supposing that they were being honestly
dealt with, readily submitted to a reduction. This reduction of
prices was small, but after being repeated two or three times, the
men became restive and disposed to complain. A few were bold
enough to remonstrate, but a guillotine had been prepared, and their
heads immediately dropped into the basket. ... To effectually
smother in its infancy any disposition the men might have to frat-
ernize . . . they commenced to work upon their prejudices. They
succeeded in a short time in arraigning the representatives of one
1 See J. C. Sylvis, The Life, Speeches, Labors and Essays of William H. Sylvia.
THE MOULDEES 7
religion or one nation against those of another. . . . This accom-
plished, they found no difficulty in the further prosecution of the
nefarious plans. Then commenced the contract system . . . Next,
each man was required to furnish his own tools at their prices. . . .
Next came the Order System. . . . Simultaneous with this was in-
troduced the 'helper system' . . . [and] the stoves were cut up,
that is, each man made one piece Thus this system went on
until it became customary for each man to have from one to five
boys; and . . . prices became so low that men were obliged to in-
crease the hours of labor, and work much harder; and then could
scarcely obtain the plainest necessaries of life. .".. ." ^
The iron-moulders of Philadelphia organised their first trade
union in 1855, but Sylvis did not join until 1857, after a strike
in the foundry where he worked. He was soon elected record-
ing secretary of the union and his career as a trade unionist had
begun.
The conditions in the moulders' trade became so desperate that
a strong sentiment developed among the various local unions in
favour of a national organisation. The union in Philadelphia
took the lead, and a national convention, composed of thirty-
five delegates representing twelve unions, met July 5, 1859, in
Philadelphia, largely as a result of Sylvis' efforts. The con-
vention established a national organisation with limited
powers. :! V i^^
Although it could not levy an assessment, the national union
conducted to a successful issue the strike which broke out in
Albany at the time the convention was in session. The or-
ganisation made good progress and organised forty-four locals
during 1860. Strikes, however, became so numerous and the
demands upon National Treasurer Sylvis for assistance became
80 frequent that the third ^ national convention, which was held
in Cincinnati, January 8, 1861, was obliged to adopt a stringent
resolution against careless strikes by locals.
The other union which furnished the most consistent trade
union leader of the sixties, Jonathan C. Fincher, was that of
the machinists and blacksmiths. Here, again, the greatest
leader of the organisation has described the development of
his craft, and the reasons for the organisation of the union.
2 Fincher's Trades' Review, July 18, Albany six months after the Philadelphia
1863. Cited hereafter as Fincher's. convention.
3 The second convention was held in
8 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Fortunately, it is possible to give much of the story in Fincher's
own words. Writing in 1872, he said : "*
" Still within the recollection of grey-headed machinists and
blacksmiths [are] the days when a machinist was a compound of
handiwork, a kind of cross between a millwright and a whitesmith,
a fitter, finisher, locksmith, and so forth. But building of cotton
machinery, steam engines, etc., required steady employment at what
is now called machine work, and it soon led to the acknowledgment
of the craft as a special trade or calling. . . . The machinists began
to consider themselves a branch of the great industrial family of
civilization. They took part in the struggle for the ten-hour sys-
tem, and suffered in common with other mechanics in all the fluc-
tuations of trade. Several attempts at organisation were made in
the principal seaboard cities, but were short-lived and restricted in
their sphere.
" Unfair dealing on the part of the employers had long been a
grievance with the men. The baneful system of paying in orders
was common. The taking on of as many apprentices as could pos-
sibly be worked was considered the indubitable right of every em-
ployer. ... In dull times, men with families to support would find
themselves out of work, while the shops were filled with apprentice
boys. . . . The writer of this was one of some twenty young men
kept at work after the great financial crash of 1857, while there were
sixty apprentices employed. . . . Over one hundred and fifty jour-
neymen had been discharged from the shop within two months. . . .
A marked difference had come over the employers during the same
time. In the early days of mechanism in this country but
few shops employed many men. Generally the employer was
head man; he knew his men personally; he instructed his ap-
prentices and kept a general supervision of the business. By
that means every workman knew his employer, and if aught
went astray, there was no circumlocution office to go through
to have an understanding about it. But as the business came
to be more fully developed, it was found that more capital
must be employed and the authority and supervision of the owner
or owners must be delegated to superintendents and under foremen.
In this manner men and masters became estranged and the gulf
could only be bridged by a strike, when, perhaps, the representatives
of the workingmen might be admitted to the office and allowed to
state their case. It was to resist this combination of capital, which
had so changed the character of the employers, that led to the forma-
tion of the union. . . . Competent journeymen counselled together
... in private parlors of the different members of the proposed
union. Some favored embracing all forms of iron workers; others
4Machinwt9' and Blacksmiths' International Journal, February and March,
1872.
MACHINISTS AND BLACKSMITHS 9
desired to restrict it to only machinists ; finally it was decided that
the machinists and machine blacksmiths were the only trades whose
interests were inseparable, hence the union of the M. & B's." ^
Beginning with 14 members, the first union of these com-
bined crafts, formed after the panic, was established in Phila--
delphia, in April, 1858. During the following summer the
membership grew to 300. One year later there were unions
organised in 5 cities of three different States, which on March 3,
1859, sent 21 delegates to the first national convention in Phila-
delphia, where they established the national union. The num-
ber of local unions increased to 12 during 1859 and, at the time
of the convention of November, 1860, there were 57 unions in
the organisation, covering all sections of the country,® with a
total membership in good standing of 2,828.
In March, 1860, the union was forced to call a strike in
the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, against a pro-
posed reduction of wages and the payment of arrear wages in
the company's stock at extortionate terms. The strike lasted
four months and although the employers did not give in, the
fruit of victory was with the men. The prestige of having
combatted the greatest shop in the country to a drawn con-
clusion proved that the organisation was a power in the land
and that its resources were not to be despised.
Secretary Fincher, who was to become one of the most in-
fluential figures in the whole labour movement in the later de-
velopments of the sixties, was ripening into confident trade
union leadership. " Little dreamed that crew of the fearful
gales they were to encounter, and the terrible shipwrecks they
were to witness in their eventful voyage,'' wrote this same leader
when looking back upon this period in later years.
Meanwhile, the political troubles of the country multiplied
and so embarrassed the business of the nation that it was im-
possible to forecast the future for even a day. Following the
breaking out of the War of the Rebellion in the spring of 1861,
the union suffered severely in the loss of members who volun-
teered, as well as in the loss of all locals in the Southern States,
6 During the first year it was a secret State, 12 in Pennsylvania, 6 in Hlinois,
organisation and the full name of the 5 in Massachusetts, 3 in New Jersey, 2 in
union was carefully suppressed. Ohio, and 7 in States which later seceded
6 Of these there were 7 in New York from the Union.
10 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
so that the summer of that year was most gloomy. At one
time the secretary reported 87 unions on the list of active work-
ing organisations ; but the convulsions of this year brought the
number down to about 30, with a greatly diminished mem-
bership, and the tendency was continually down. At the na-
tional convention in the fall of 1861 delegates were present
from only 4 States, Massachusetts, Missouri, Wisconsin, and
Kentucky. So discouraging was the prospect that the presi-
dent of the union declined to go to the convention as he did not
believe that a session would be held.
Other national trade unions which came into existence be-
fore the War were the typographical, organised in 1850, with
a membership of 2,182 in 1857; the stonecutters, organised
with 13 locals and a total membership of 3,500 in 1853; and
the national union of hat finishers, organised in 1854.
With only these few national trade unions in existence in
1860, the labour movement of the period had not really begun.
The mass organisation of labour occurred later when the un-
precedented prosperity during the War had forced up the cost
of living.
UNEMPLOYMENT AND IMPENDING WAR
Lincoln's election was immediately followed by a period of
severe unemployment, and wage-earners generally felt that
their immediate interests were made to suffer by the prospective
war. Open opposition began in the border States with the
moulders of Louisville, Kentucky. A workingmen's mass meet-
ing was called on December 28, 1860, which was addressed by
William Llorian, Eobert P. Gilchrist, and others, friends of
W. H. Sylvis. A resolution was carried declaring the allegi-
ance of the workingmen to the Union and the Constitution. It
laid the blame for the present political crisis upon the politicians
of both sides, affirming that workingmen had no real or vital
interest in the mere abstract questions used to divide the
masses. It also called for general organisation of the work-
ingmen and for a national workingmen's convention to decide
what concerted action should be taken in order to avert the
crisis.'^
7 SyWis, Life, Speeches, Labors and Essay, 42-46.
DEPRESSION 11
A similar movement led by Sylvis was started in Phila-
delphia. A delegate body was organised in January, which
gave its endorsement to the Crittenden compromise ® and sent
a committee of thirty-three to present a memorial to the State
legislature in Harrisburg and to both houses of Congress.^
The committee was favourably received by the legislature, and
in Washington the Pennsylvania members of Congress prom-
ised their support to the Crittenden resolution. In Newark,
New Jersey, a mass meeting of unemployed likewise indorsed
the compromise. -^^ A similar movement was on foot in Read-
ing, Pennsylvania; in Norfolk, Petersborough, and Richmond,
Virginia; Louisville, Cincinnati, St. Louis and in many lo-'
calities in the States bordering on Pennsylvania.^^
The national convention of workingmen met in Philadelphia
on February 22, 1861. It contained representatives from sev-
eral States, though it was not as well attended as had been ex-
pected. It was called to order by Sylvis, who took an active
part in the discussion. ^^ The convention was preceded by a
procession of workingmen and by a public meeting at which the
delegates furnished the chief speakers. The resolutions adopted
at the meeting probably represent the best available statement
of the attitude of workingmen with regard to the War. They
read:
" Resolved, That we earnestly invoke zealous and energetic action
at once by Congress, either by the adoption of the Crittenden, Bigler
or Guthrie amendments, or by some other full and clear recognition
of the equal rights of the South in the Territories by such enactment
for constitutional action as will finally remove the question of slav-
ery therein from our National Legislature. . . .
''Resolved, That our Government never can be sustained by
bloodshed, but must live in the affections of the people; we are,
therefore, utterly opposed to any measures that will evoke civil war,
and the workingmen of Philadelphia will, by the use of all consti-
tutional means, and with our moral and political influence, oppose
8 The chief provisions of the compro- as they might provide in their constitu-
mise introduced in the House of Repre- tions.
sentatives by Crittenden, of Kentucky, in 8 Philadelphia Enquirer, Jan. 3 and
January, 1861, were that in all territories 28, 1861.
acquired now or hereafter north of lati- lO New York Tribune, Jan. 10, 1861.
tude 36° and 30', slavery should be pro- n Philadelphia Enquirer, Feb. 18,
hibited, but south of this line it should be 1861.
allowed by Congress and protected as 12 Sylvis, Life, Speeches, Labors and
property. States formed from territory Essays, 43.
north of that line should be free or slave
12 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
any such extreme policy, or a fratricidal war thus to be inaugu-
rated." "
Before adjourning, the convention made the committee of
thirty-thi*ee permanent and charged it with continuing the
agitation and organisation. It held several meetings and its
corresponding secretary, Sylvis, who, through his prominent
position in the moulders' national union possessed wide connec-
tions over the country, devoted his time to this work.
On April 12 the first gun was fired on Sumter, and there-
upon peace agitation was at an end. The War once broken
out, the northern wage-earners abandoned their former oppo-
sition and vied with the farmers in furnishing volunteers. En-
tire local unions enlisted at the call of President Lincoln, and
Sylvis himself assisted in recruiting a company composed of
moulders, of which he became orderly sergeant. ^"^
13 PhUadelphia Enquirer, Feb. 23, tecting Washington from threatened inva-
1861. sion by General Lee. Sylvis then returned
14 The time for which they enlisted per- to Philadelphia,
mitted them to do little but assist in pro-
CHAPTER II
THE WAR PERIOD, 1861-1865
War and Prices. The lethargy of the trade unions, 13. The legal
tender acts, 14. War prosperity and its beneficiaries, 14. Cost of living
and wages, 15.
The Labour Press. Fincher's Trades' Revieio, 15. The Workingmen's
Advocate, 16. The Daily Evening Voice, 16. Other papers, 17.
Local Unions. Incentive for organisation, 17. The wave of organisation
during the War, 18.
Trades' Assemblies. Progress of the Trades' assemblies, 22. Strikes,
23. The functions of the trades' assemblies, 23. The Philadelphia trades'
assembly — a typical assembly, 24.
Employers' Associations. Local and national associations, 26. The Em-
ployers' General Association of Michigan, 26. Reply of the trade unions,
29. Richard F. Trevellick, 29. The New York Master Builders' Associ-
ation, 29. Master mechanics of Boston, 30. Associated employers and
the eight-hour movement of 1872, 31. Attempted "exclusive agreement,"
32. Attitude towards trade agreements, 33.
The International Industrial Assembly of North America. The national
trade unions and federation, 33. The trades' assemblies and federation,
34. The Louisville call, 34. The convention in Louisville, 35. Assist-
ance during strikes, 36. Attitude towards co-operation and legislation,
37. The constitution and the national trade unions, 37. Politics, 38. The
causes of failure, 38.
Distributive Co-operation. Cost of living, 39. Thomas Phillips, 39.
The Rochdale plan, 40. The turn towards productive co-operation, 41.
WAR AND PRICES
The first effects of the War were the paralysis of business
and the increase in unemployment.^ The combined effect upon
the existing labour organisations, both of the industrial dis-
turbance and of the enlistment of their members, was demoral-
ising. At the convention of the machinists and blacksmiths
held in Pittsburgh in November, 1861, ]^ational Secretary
Fincher, the only officer present, reported that the membership
in good standing had decreased from 2,717 to 1,898 during the
six months from April to October of that year, and that the
subordinate unions betrayed but little activity.^ The effect
1 Jlhodes, History of the United States, Blacksmiths of the United States of Arner-
III, 122, 162, 171. ica, Proceedings, 1861, p. 21.
? International Union of Machinists and
13
14 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
upon the moulders' organisation was still more demoralising.
The national union seemed to have ceased existence by the
middle of 1861, and the national convention, which was to be
held in January, 1862, failed to meet. This period of in-
dustrial stagnation, however, lasted only until the middle of
1862.
The legal tender acts of February 25, and of July 11, 1862,
threw $300,000,000 of greenbacks into circulation. As a re-
sult, prices began rapidly to increase, causing a revival in in-
dustry and creating ample employment for those wage-earners
who did not join the army. The further issue of greenbacks to
the amount of $750,000,000 authorised by Congress in January
and March of 1863 added to the impetus of the upward move-
ment of prices. This, acting together with the enormously
grown demand upon industries for the supply of the army,
brought on an unprecedented degree of prosperity. Wholesale
prices, during 1863, increased 59 per cent above the level of
1860, 125 per cent during 1864, and 107 per cent during
1865.3
The fruits of prosperity were shared unequally by the four
industrial classes, the merchant- jobber, the employing manu-
facturers, the farmers, and the wage-earners. Merchants who
contracted in advance for the output of manf acturers were the
largest beneficiaries of the rapidly rising prices. Many of
them were able to realise enormous profits on government con-
tracts so that the foundations of numerous great fortunes were
laid during this period. The manufacturer and the farmer
benefited perhaps more moderately. The high war tariff which
was adopted originally as a revenue measure enabled the manu-
facturer to begin to accumulate capital and was thus a potent
factor in building up a class of capitalistic employers. The
farmers were equally benefited by the tide of prosperity. The
prices of their products having risen on an average 143 per
cent from 1860 to 1864, they forgot their grievances against
the railroads and the middlemen and relinquished the small
attempt at organisation which they, had made in the years im-
mediately preceding the War.
3 "Wholesale Prices," in United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin, No.
114, p. 149. See above, chart, I, 11.
LABOUR PRESS 15
/^ The only class which suffered rather than benefited from the
wave of prosperity was the wage-earning class. It is true that
opportunities for employment increased and by that much the
wage-earner was a direct beneficiary of the high prices. But,
on the other hand, the cost of living was rapidly increasing
while wages were lagging approximately six months behind.
In July, 1862, retail prices in greenbacks were 15 per cent
above the level of 1860 and wages remained stationary; in July,
1863, retail prices were 43 per cent above those of 1860 and
wages only 12 per cent above; in July, 1864, retail prices rose
70 per cent and wages to 30 per cent above 1860; and in July,
1865, prices rose to 76 per cent and wages to only 50 per cent
above the level of I860.* The unequal pace of the two move-
ments inevitably led the wage-earners to organise along trade
union lines in order to protect the standard of living.
THE LABOUR PRESS
It was this period of nationalisation in the American labour
movement that witnessed the establishment of a labour press
upon a lasting foundation. Ko less than 120 daily, weekly,
and monthly journals of labour reform appeared during the
decade 1863-1873.*^
Perhaps the most influential labour paper of the period —
certainly one of the best labour papers ever published in the
United States — was Fincher's Trades' Review, published at
Philadelphia. The first issue appeared as a four-page paper
on June 6, 1863, and it continued weekly during the follow-
ing three years. As secretary of the most important national
trade union, that of the machinists and blacksmiths, Fincher
had already established, in January, 1862, a regular monthly
journal for his ovm organisation, and was in close touch with all
the active labour leaders throughout the country. This enabled
him to make his paper a true mirror of the national labour
movement, a truly national labour paper. Advertising was
ignored from the first, and financial support was entirely de-
pendent upon subscriptions and donations from trade unions.
4 Mitchell, •• Gold, Prices and Wages See also Doc. Hist., IX, 67, on the cost
under the Greenback Standard," in Uni- of living,
versity of California, Publications, I, 279. o Doc. Hist., X, 142.
16 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Beginning with a circulation of less than 5,000 copies, the
paper gTadually extended its field of influence nntilj at the end
of the first year, it had doubled both in size and sales. At the
end of two and one-half years (December, 1865) over 11,000
copies were printed. The territory covered included 31 out
of the 36 States, the District of Columbia, 3 provinces of
Canada, and 8 cities in England. The paper thus became a
powerful organ for the propaganda of trade unioinism, co-
operation, and shorter hours. Among its colabourers were the
most prominent labour leaders of the time, William H. Sylvis,
Richard F. Trevellick, Thomas Phillips, and Ira Steward.
A few labour papers had been published in the years im-
mediately before the War. The Mechanics' Oivn was pub-
lished in New York for eleven months during 1859-1860, and
advocated arbitration. Another paper by the same name was
published in Philadelphia a little later. The New England
Mechanic appeared in 1859, and in New York during the same
year the American Banker and Worhingmen's Leader was pub-
lished for a short time. The need for a German labour press
had been keenly felt in New York City and the Arheiter and
the Soziale Bepuhlih appeared in 1858. None of these papers,
however, survived the depression which immediately followed
the beginning of the War.
The principal labour papers during the war, beside Fincher's,
were the Chicago weekly Worhingman's Advocate and the Daily
Evening Voice of Boston. The Worlcingmans Advocate was
founded in July, 1864, during a printers' strike and Avas edited
during all of the thirteen years of its existence by Andrew C.
Cameron,^ who from the standpoint both of length of service
and ability as a practical writer was the greatest labour editor
of his time. The Worhingmans Advocate was the official or-
gan of the Chicago Trades' Assembly and later also of the Na-
tional Labor Union. In its editorial columns it reflected the
views of the western labour movement, which inclined more
than the eastern to active participation in politics.
The Daily Eve7iing Voice of Boston, the official organ of
the workingmen's assembly of Boston and vicinity, was of still
« In the year 1906 the son of Mr. Cameron ijrescnted a file of this paper to
the Wisconsin University Library,
LOCAL UNIONS 11
greater importance. It was started early in December, 1864,
by the locked-out printers of Boston, and continued by the
various local unions on a co-operative basis until its suspension
in October, 1867. During the last twenty months it was sup-
plemented by a weekly edition. The Voice was not only a
labour paper but also an interesting general paper ; it contained
telegraphic news and gave much space to general local news;
it also differed from the other labour papers by its large amount
of advertisements. The Voice enjoyed a large circulation in
the 'New England States and accurately reflected the movement
of that section, which was strongly influenced by the agitation
for shorter hours.
Another noteworthy paper, the Weehly Miner, was es-
tablished at Belleville, Illinois, by John Hinchcliffe, as the
oflicial organ of the American Miners' Association, on May 23,
1863, one week before the appearance of Finchers Trades'
Review. It lasted until 1865, when a libel suit led to its
removal to St. Louis, where it survived one more year under the
name Miner and Artisan. About the same time, 1864-1866, a
second labour paper by the name of Daily Press was published
in St. Louis. It was established, as were many labour papers of
this period, on a co-operative basis, by striking printers. The
editors of nearly all of these labour papers believed themselves
pioneers in the field, so completely had the movements of the
thirties and the forties been forgotten.
LOCAL UNIONS
The organisation of local trade unions probably began in the
second half of the year 1862, but reliable information con-
cerning the movement can be secured only from the beginning
of June, 1863, when Fincher began publishing his weekly,
Finchers Trades' Review.
The question of wages played a large part in the organisa-
tions which took place during this period, though demands for
wages were not the only cause of organisation. Fincher s says
that although wages were good, in fact, had risen from 25 to
50 per cent, this did not mean that there were more oppor-
I tunities for the workingman to save; for prices had risen to a
18 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
stiU greater extent than wages. Further, when the War ceased,
there was likely to be considerable unemployment, and the
proper way to meet the situation was to organise. With this
warning to the trades, organisations increased at a rapid
pace.'^
Another incentive given to the organisation of locals was the
organisation of trades' assemblies. In Albany, New York,
the printers' union flourished, but organisation was not con-
fined to the printers alone. Other unions were doing as well,
or better. New unions composed of members of occupations
which never before thought of such a thing in their trade, were
organised and joined the trades' assembly. The constitution
of the assembly provided that any organised trade with twenty-
five members, which sent duly accredited delegates to the as-
sembly, would receive the support of all unions there repre-
sented.^ What was true of this assembly was no doubt true
of others.
The wave of organisation is shown by the growing size of
the trade union directory printed in Fincher's paper. Occupy-
ing but half a column in June, 1863, it grew to a full column
during the next month, to two columns six months later, to
four columns in July, 1864, and finally to a seven-column page
in May, 1865. At the end of each half year during the first
eighteen months, beginning with June, 1863, the record thus
preserved was 20 trades embracing 79 unions in December,
1863; 40 trades and 203 unions in June, 1864; and 53 trades
embracing 207 unions in December of that year. In Novem-
ber, 1865, there were 61 different trades organised with ap-
proximately 300 unions.
The following table shows the number of unions reported in
Fincher's up to December, 1863, and the increase during the
next year. The year 1864 saw the number of unions increased
from 79 to 270. By November, 1865, but 8 more trades were
organised and something like 30 locals added ; so that the year
1863-1864 represents the most marked growth of local or-
ganisation.
T Fincher'a, July 4, 1863. 8 Ihid., Aug 6, 1864.
LOCAL UNIONS 19
TMe Showing Growth of Local Organisation from December,
1863, to Decemher, 186Jf
State Dec, 1863 Dec, 1864
Connecticut 2 6
Delaware , , . . 1
Illinois 1 10
Indiana 3 17
Kentucky 2 8
Maine 1 7
Maryland . . 1
Massachusetts 17 42
Michigan 4 9
Missouri 4 9
New Hampshire 3 6
New Jersey 4 10
New York 16 74
Ohio 4 16
Pennsylvania 15 44
Ehode Island 1 7
Tennessee . . 2
Vermont 1
Virginia 1 1
Wisconsin . . 1
Total 79 270
Of the trades in 1863, the machinists and blacksmiths had
the largest number of unions, 29, and following closely were
the moulders with 24. Then followed the carpenters and join-
ers with 4, and other trades with numbers ranging from 1 to 3
each. These 79 unions were scattered over 16 States. New
York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts being the leading in-
dustrial States at this time, it is only natural that they should
have the largest number of unions. They lead with 48 out of
the 79 unions, or 60 per cent of the whole. The unions were
pretty evenly divided among these three States, Massachusetts
having 17, New York 16, and Pennsylvania, 15. Virginia,
the most southerly State, had 1, Maine, the most northerly, 1,
and Missouri, the most westerly, had 4. So up to 1864, union-
ism was confined, with one exception, to the region east of the
Mississippi River and mainly to the northeastern and central
part of that region.
20 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The beginning of 1864 showed a phenomenal activity among
wage-earners. Finchers Trades' Review for March 12 of that
year gives an account of labour activities for New York and
vicinity, which was typical of other places :
" The Slate and Metal Roofers are organising and it is thought
they will demand $3 per day. The Segar makers are preparing to
secure better wages. The Longshoremen have demanded $2.50 per
day of nine hours, from the 7th inst. The Jewellers have decided
to add 25 per cent to their wages. The Bricklayers demanded $2.50
per day, House Carpenters demand $2.50 per day, Painters $2.50
per day. Dry dock practical painters $2.50 per day. Plumbers
$2.50 per day. Blue Stone cutters and Flaggers, $2^50 per day.
The Piano Forte makers demand an increase of 25 per cent on
former wages. The Iron Moulders ask for 15 per cent advance.
The Cabinetmakers and Tailors are also moving. The Carvers
ask 15 per cent addition. The Shipwrights are preparing for a
struggle. The Brush makers have been conceded 25 per cent ad-
vance in New York by all employers but three. Wheelwrights and
Blacksmiths are in council. The Bookbinders are organised. The
Coopers have obtained their increase recently sought, and will make
no immediate demand for change. The Coach Painters and coach
Trimmers will shortly remodel their list of prices. Several of the
trades mentioned above have obtained the wages sought by amicable
treaty ; and let us hope that all may succeed without the resort of a
strike.''
\^/ As might be expected from the foregoing, the year 1864 was
^ a year of rapid increase in the number of local unions. The
number of trades increased to 53 and the number of unions
to 270. Some of the unions showed a big increase over 1863.
For instance, the machinists and blacksmiths' locals increased
from 29 to 46, the carpenters and joiners from 4 to 17, and
several of the other unions in proportion. But the greatest
increase in any trade was among the moulders, who increased
their local organisations from 24 to 65.
As in 1863, the States having the largest number of locals
in 1864 were New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts,
and the percentage which they had of the whole remained
about the same.
The number of States in which locals were organised did not
increase greatly ; in fact, but four States were added to the list
and these with a total of but five unions. Furthermore, union-
TRADES^ ASSEMBLIES 21
ism was not extended any farther westward, and Virginia still
continued to be the most southerly State.
The following list of 61 trade unions is presented in the
chronological order in which the union notices appeared in
Fincher's Trades' Review, between June, 1863, and November
25, 1865.
Machinists and Blacksmiths, Moulders, Carpenters and Joiners,
Painters, Plasterers, Printers, House Carpenters, Cabinetmakers
and Carvers, Tin Plate and Sheet-Iron Workers, Tailors, Upholster-
ers, Bricklayers, Garment Cutters, Shipwrights, Tinsmiths, Coop-
ers, Steam Boiler-makers, Boiler-makers and Shipbuilders, Var-
nishers, Sparmakers, Shoemakers, Cigar makers. Fancy Chair
Makers, Freestone Cutters, Wheelwrights, Curriers, Engineers,
Collar Makers, Horseshoers, Labouring Men, Druggistware Glass-
Blowers, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Seamen, Ship-
Carpenters and Caulkers, Granite Cutters, Window Glass-Blowers,
Gilders, Brush Makers, Coach Makers, Harnessmakers, Boot and
Shoemakers, Bookbinders, Brass Founders and Finishers, Sewing
Machine Operators (Women), Axemakers, Pattern Makers, Trunk
and Bag Makers, Saddlers, Gas and Steam Fitters, Saddle and Pad
Makers, Stove Mounters, Marble Cutters, Puddlers, Iron Rollers,
Morocco Finishers, Plumbers, Hat Makers, Ship Painters, Ship
Fasteners, Heaters, and Ship Joiners.
These unions were scattered over a wider territory than had
ever before been organised, and the numerous and general ef-
forts at organisation justly deserve to be called a ^' movement " ;
for not only did they comprise every trade, but the various
trades in the more important localities soon gave concrete ex-
pression to the prevailing sentiment of the solidarity of labour
and federated into trades' assemblies.
TRADES' ASSEMBLIES
The local trades' assembly,^ and not the national trade union,
was the common unit of labour organisation during the period
9 The springing up of national trade or " trade " during the sixties seldom ap-
unions during the fifties, like the mold- peared in the names of unions of single
ers' national union, made it necessary for trades which generally bore names like
the local trades' unions, or unions of painters' union, ship carpenters' and
trades, in the sixties, to forbear desig- caulkers' protective union, — and the same
nating themselves by the name union, was true of the national unions which
and they generally chose " trades' assem- were named : Iron Holders' International
bly," and almost monopolised the word Union, Machinists' and Blacksmiths' In-
" trades." The word " trades," " trades' " ternational Union. But still we find in
22 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
of the War. Transportation by rail, which had established
a national market for industries producing a standardised com-
modity like stoves, had not yet consolidated the markets of a
very large number of industries. In these competition re-
mained substantially local and called for a merely local union.
Another factor was the novelty of organisation itself and the
difficulty in establishing connections with fellow craftsmen in
other cities, due to insufficient channels of communication.
This was later amended to a large degree by the trade union
directories printed in the labour press.
The first trades' assembly of the war period was organised
in Kochester, New York, in March, 1863. Boston and New
York followed in June of the same year. Albany, Buffalo,
Louisville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and San Fran-
cisco likewise had trades' assemblies by the end of 1863. At
the end of the War, trades' assemblies existed in every im-
portant industrial centre. The trade assembly endeavoured to
do for the local trade unions what the American Federation of
Labour is at present doing for the national trade unions. The
powers of the assembly were merely advisory, but since the
membership was made up of the most influential men in every
local union, the influence of the assembly was great. The as-
semblies carried no strike funds -^^ and distributed no strike
benefits, but served as publicity agencies in case of strikes.
They aided the striking union in the collection of funds, and
through connections with assemblies of other cities counter-
acted the efforts of employers to hire strike-breakers from out-
side the strike area. Another important function was the or-
ganisation of boycotts, known then as "non-intercourse." A
delegate to the St. Louis Trade-Union League wrote of the
methods of that organisation as follows : ^^ .
" We do not propose to do this [to aid labour against capital] by
pecuniary aid, but by the moral force of numbers and active sympa-
1866 a House Carpenters' Trades' Union peared in the paper was headed " Trades'
in Washington, D. 0., as an exception to Union Directory." When the trades' as-
the rule. Speaking, however, of unions semblies created, in 1864, the Interna-
of single trades in the generic sense, they tional Industrial Assembly, it was some-
were frequently referred to as trade unions times referred to as " The International
or even trades' unions. Thus Fincher Trades' Union."
speaks of " National Trade Unions " and lO The Trades' Assembly of Rochester
the directory of trade unions (local, na- was an exception to the rule,
tional and trades assemblies) which ap- ii Fincher '», Nov. 28, 1868.
TEADES' ASSEMBLIES 2S
thy. To illustrate: We will suppose a boss tailor refuses to pay
the prices established by the Tailors' Union. It is the duty of the
tailors to inform the general society, through its delegates, of the
facts in the case, whereupon it becomes the duty of the delegates
from each of the other Unions composing the general society, to
inform their particular organisation, and each member of all the
societies is then under obligation to refuse to patronise the shop so
refusing to pay the established rates, and to counsel their friends
to do the same. In this way we expect to bring an influence that
no proprietor can ignore."
Throughout the period of the War, the number of strikes
was comparatively small, considering the incessant readjust-
ment of wages to prices. The number of strikes mentioned
in the three leading labour papers was 38 in 1863, affecting 30
trades; 108 in 1864, affecting 48 trades; and 85 in 1865, af-
fecting 46 trades. In numerous cases the mere organisation of
a union was sufficient to secure the demands.
The trades' assemblies devoted their main efforts to the
work of organisation and agitation. They appointed special
agents to form trade unions in the unorganised trades; they
also agitated the idea of organisation at mass meetings called
for this purpose. The trades' assembly further assisted in the
establishment of co-operative stores, frequently appointing spe-
cial agents to set the business on foot. The assemblies of
Albany, Boston, Chicago, and Troy were instrumental in the
establishment of such stores as dealt in groceries alone. In
addition to this, the Troy Assembly also maintained a " work-
ingmen's emporium," which was well patronised by the union
men. Free libraries and reading rooms were established by
the trades' assemblies of Chicago (German), Philadelphia, and
Troy. The trades' assembly also was an organisation for
" lobbying." When a bill, directed against picketing, was in-
troduced in the legislature of 'New York in the winter of
1864, the trades' assemblies of New York,^^ Brooklyn,^^ and
Buffalo ^* passed strong resolutions and saw that the bill was
defeated.^5
12 Fincher's, Apr. 16, 1864. feat the moulders' and machinists' unions
13 Ibid., Apr, 23, 1864. at Cold Springs, N. Y., which were on
li Ibid., Apr. 16, 1864. strike against R, P. Parrott, a shot and
15 Sylvis explained to the moulders' con- shell manufacturer for the army. The
vention in Chicago in January, 1865, that strike was broken up through the inter-
the primary object of this biU was to ds-
24 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The support of the labour press was regarded as an impor-
tant duty by the trades' assemblies. Frequent references may
be found during the later issues of Finchers Trades' Review
to the aid received from various trades' assemblies. In St.
Louis, the trade union league subscribed $1,000 tov^ard the
establishment of the St. Louis Daily Press.^^ The Boston
Daily Evening Voice and later the Chicago W orkingman* s
Advocate were also aided by the assemblies.
The proceedings of the Philadelphia Trades' Assembly have
been much more fully preserved than those of any other, and a
survey of its history will give an idea of the career of the aver-
age organisation.
The Philadelphia Journeymen House Painters' Association
seems to have taken the initiative in bringing about the organi-
sation of the assembly. In September, 1863, the members of
this union offered the use of their newly erected hall for meet-
ings of all trades. At the first meeting on October 27, nine
trades were represented and Jonathan C. Fincher delivered an
address on " Combination." At a second meeting held on No-
vember 10, six additional trades were represented, but it was
decided to effect a permanent organisation at the next meet-
ing to which all the various trade associations in the city were
to be invited. At the same time it was announced that the
federation of all trades would bring together 30,000 organised
workingmen.^^ At a meeting held on December 8, the trades'
assembly was organised, but the adoption of a permanent con-
stitution was delayed for several months.
At a meeting held January 12, 1864, resolutions were
adopted urging the immediate establishment of a library and
free reading room, the support of Fincher's Trades' Review,
and the necessity of securing a charter. ^^ At the same meet-
ing the strike and boycott policy was defined in the following
resolution :
" That the different organizations herein represented, be requested
to report to the Trades' Assembly all grievances that can in any way
be affected by public opinion: and where the complainants make
vention of the militia. Fincher'a, Jan. 17 Fincher'a, Dec. 19, 1863.
14, 1865. 18 There is no evidence that the matter
16 Boston Daily Evening Voice, Jan. 17, of incorporation was ever brought before
1865. the assembly again.
TRADES' ASSEMBLIES 25
good their claim to the general sympathy of their fellow working-
men, the Trades' Assembly shall request of the various Unions rep-
resented, that they adopt a specified course of a^ction, calculated to
secure the success of their brother workmen, either by expression of
opinions, non-intercourse, or in event of a severe struggle with capi-
talists, pecuniary relief." ^^
The constitution, which was finally adopted at a meeting
on March 8, 1864, recognised only the power of recommenda-
tion and provided for the admission of three delegates from
each organised trade. The expenses of the organisation were
to be paid from annual dues of $10 from each local union hav-
ing more than 200 members; $8 from each local with a mem-
bership of less than 200 and more than 100 ; and $5 from
unions with less than 100 members. Intoxication, or the use
of profane or indecent language, subjected the offender to a
fine and to expulsion from the meeting. A by-law expressly
provided that ^' no subject of a political or religious nature shall
at any time be admitted."
At the first election in April, 1864, W. B. Eckert was
elected president and John Samuel, vice-president.^^ James
L. Wright was made treasurer. ^^ and William H. Sylvis and
Jonathan C. Fincher were elected to the board of trustees.
Within a year from the date of its organisation, the assem-
bly represented twenty-eight local trade unions and was the
strongest trades' assembly in the country.
It has been shown how the trades' assembly mirrored and
focussed the labour movement during this period. Each as-
sembly with its affiliated trades was a world in itself, main-
taining but loose and irregular diplomatic relations with the
other thirty or forty similar worlds, l^o serious attempt was
19 Fincher's, Jan. 23, 1864. eighties. In 1907, at the age of ninety,
20 John Samuel was a druggist-ware he presented his collection on trade union-
glass-blower, born in Wales, Feb. 3, 1817. ism and co-operation to the University of
He came to America in 1832 and served Wisconsin. He died in 1909.
his apprenticeship in Philadelphia. He 21 Wright was born in Ireland in 1816
took part in the general strike of 1836 in of Scottish-Irish ancestry and came to
Philadelphia during the fourth year of his Philadelphia in 1827. In 1836 he be-
apprenticeship. In 1857, he organised came a member of the tailors' benevolent
the glass workers in Philadelphia and vi- society; in 1854, manager of a large cloth-
cinity. Later he became a member of the ing house; in 1862, he helped to organise
editorial staff of Fincher's Trades' Re- a garment cutters' association of which he
view. After that time his chief interest was president for many years; and in
was the encouragement of co-operation, 1868, with six others, he founded the
He was placed at the head of the co-opera- Knights of Labor,
tive board of the Knights of Labor in the
26 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
made to confederate these independent organisations until the
middle of 1864.
EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATIONS
The aggressive trade union movement during the War period
gave rise to a no less aggressive movement for organisation
among employers. In one trade, stove moulding, the employ-
ers organised on a national scale just as their employes had
done some years earlier. However, the typical employers' as-
sociation of the period was local, embracing the employers of
one or more trades in the locality. These organisations ex-
pressed the employers' reaction against the wide-spread growth
of local unions and trades' assemblies. In counteracting these
organisations they often were even more successful than their
own interests demanded, for in a large number of trades, by
forcing labour to take the next step and to organise national
trade unions, they unwittingly helped to strengthen a still more
formidable adversary than either the local union or the trades'
assembly. Where, as in the moulders' and the machinists'
trades, national trade unions had already been in existence,
the employers' associations helped to keep them intact against
disrupting forces from within. However, during the War
period proper, it was not so much the struggle against the
national trade unions, spectacular though it was, that described
their most typical activity but primarily the neutralisation of
the local trade unions and the trades' assemblies. ^^
Most of the information about the employers' associations
comes from the labour press of the time. The employers them-
selves preferred secrecy. Nevertheless the records show the
existence of such organisations in every important locality and
in nearly every trade. A most complete development of the
idea of organisation among employers was the general city fed-
eration.
An example of an employers' association including repre-
sentative employers of several different trades is clearly outlined
in the Detroit Tribune of July 25, 1864. This organisation
was known as the " Employers' General Association of Mich-
22 The employers' associations which trade unions will be treated in the £ol-
were especially active against national lowing chapter.
EMPLOYERS^ ASSOCIATIONS 27
igan." It consisted of a general association and of various
auxiliary associations. Each auxiliary was composed of the
owners and managing agents of some particular line or branch
of manufacturing or mechanical business. Eor example, the
iron workers formed one auxiliary ; the carpenters and joiners,
another; the ship-builders, another; sawmill men, another, and
so on. Each auxiliary was empowered to fix, grade, and regu-
late, from time to time, the maximum rates of wages to be al-
lowed and paid to the different classes of employes in its par-
ticular branch of business ; and also the minimum prices to be
charged for different kinds of articles and work. The Gen-
eral Association was composed of the members of the various
auxiliaries, not, however, in the character of delegates, but in
their original and primary capacity. It was the province of
the General Association to see that each of the various aux-
iliaries observed its constitution and by-laws filed with the
general secretary as a prerequisite of membership, and also to
act as a kind of court of appeal in cases arising from disputes
between one auxiliary and another, and between an auxiliary
and any of its members. The constitutions of the general and
auxiliary associations were printed with proper blanks, the
same as a deed, so that they answered for one place and for
one branch of business as well as for another. They were
ample in their provisions and carefully drawn. Particular care
was taken to provide all needed funds.
The preamble to the constitution of the Michigan employ-
ers' union stated that the workingmen had for a long time been
associated together in trade unions which had lately come to
assume a dangerous attitude. " As a natural result of this sys-
tem of general and persistent interference," said the emplo^^ers,
" our business is thrown into a condition of much uncertainty.
. . . Business-like calculations and arrangements, especially
such as involve prices for work, and time of completion and
delivery, are thus rendered quite impracticable. ... If con-
tinued for any considerable time, it must result in wide-spread
beggary, with all its attending evils — suffering, bread-riots,
pillage and taxation."
The employers' document further regretted that well-disposed
workmen were not left to act freely, and charged their disaf-
28 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
fection to the work of the leaders among them. " They come in
contact," said the employers, " with others of a different make
and temper — uneasy spirits, pregnant with the leaven of dis-
content, and whose words, constantly dropping, are full of the
seeds of trouhle." To the work of these " uneasy spirits "
was ascribed the entrance of workmen into unions, where, ac-
cording to the report, they were led on from one step to an-
other, and finally went on strike. ^' These men go with the
rest," said the preamble, " being hurried on by the excitement
of the occasion, by the maddening influence of sympathy, or
by ill-regulated zeal for a common cause. A strike follows.
. . . These men are idle. Their wages are already nearly or
quite consumed. The wants of a wife and children press upon
them, as well as their own. . . . They desire to return to work
at former rates. . . . But now up steps a ringleader, and with
threats and abuse dilates on their duty of fidelity to the
^ Unions ' — reproaches them with odious epithets, calling them
cowards, sneaks, traitors, and threatening to break their heads
or burn their houses if they go to work on terms different from
those decreed by the Union. They are intimidated and shrink
back."
In the concluding introductory paragraph, the employers'
association included the following sentiment which was singled
out and highly commended by the editor of the Detroit Tribune :
" We cordially accept the principle that ' the laborer is worthy
of his hire ' — that he should be remunerated for his labour,
and so treated and provided for in general arrangement of so-
ciety and of the body politic, as to enable him by diligence and
fair economy to place himself and those dependent on him on a
footing of intellectual and social equality with others." ^^
The great majority of employers and establishments engaged
in manufacturing and mechanical business in Detroit had al-
ready connected themselves with these associations. The same
was the case in several other cities both in the East and in the
West, and the organisers firmly resolved to make such employ-
ers' associations general throughout the United States and
Canada.
This public announcement of employers' association activity,
23 Detroit Tribune, July 25, 1864, quoted in Fincher's, Aug. 13, 1864,
EMPLOYERS^ ASSOCIATIONS
29
as might be expected, brought a counter thrust from the trade
unions. At the next meeting of the Detroit Trades' Assembly
Kichard F. Trevellick was instructed to publish a reply. The
answering article appeared in the Advertiser and Tribune of
August 1. Trevellick referred to the action on the part of
the employers as ^^ both wise and laudable, if carried out in
the right spirit." But, he said, " labour should be free to seek
the best market." He charged that employers sought to de-
stroy this market, and had said : " If you leave my employ you
can't work in this town." He declared further that certain
employers even followed men who left their employ and caused
their discharge from good situations merely to gratify a malig-
nant spirit of revenge.^*
With the multiplicity of organisations of employers of sep-
arate trades, and the combination of two or more trade divisions
of an industry when largely controlled by the same capitalists,
came still further consolidation into associations of employers
of many closely related trades. Perhaps the best early exam-
ple of this was the 'New York Master Builders' Association
which in the spring of 1869 represented employers in the fol-
24 Trevellick himself had suffered much
from the blacklist on account of his trade
union activity. He was a Cornishman,
born May 20, 1830, on St. Mary's Isle,
some thirty miles off Land's End, Eng-
land. At the age of fourteen he started
out to learn the ship carpenter's trade,
and when twenty-one he went to work in
the Southampton shipyard. He early dis-
tinguished himself in debates with his
fellow-workers on the eight-hour question.
In 1855 he visited Australia, where he
joined the labour movement, and to him
is said to belong the credit for the adop-
tion of the eight-hour day. Shortly after-
wards he came to New Orleans, where he
was made president of the ship carpenters
and caulkers' union, and through him that
union secured the nine-hour day. When
the Civil War broke out, he moved to De-
troit, Mich., which city he made his home
for the remainder of his life. He was
elected president of the local carpenters'
and caulkers' union, and later, in 1865,
president of the International Union of
Ship Carpenters and Caulkers. In 1864,
when the Detroit Trades' Assembly was
organised, he was elected president and
in the same year was sent as delegate
to the Louisville convention. Beginning
with 1867, he attended the congress of
the National Labor Union each year. He
was president in 1869, 1871, and 1872.
In 1867 he was elected as delegate to the
International Congress at Lausanne, but
on account of lack of funds, he did not go.
In 1867 and 1868 he made 270 speeches
in the West and organised 47 unions
of labourers. He was an ardent advo-
cate of temperance and delivered many
lectures in favour of abolition of the liquor
traflSc. In 1869 he spent 169 days travel-
ling and making speeches in behalf of la-
bour. In 1870 he travelled over 16
States, helped to form 3 state labour un-
ions and over 200 locals. In 1872, when
the National Labor Union split into two
sections, one industrial and the other po-
litical, he attended the meetings of both
and was nominated as the candidate for
the presidency in the latter but refused to
accept the nomination. He favoured
greenbackism and helped to form the
Greenback party and in 1876 was a dele-
gate to the convention that nominated
Peter Cooper and Samuel F. Gary at
Grand Rapids. In 1880 he was presi-
dent of the convention which nominated
General Weaver for president of the
United States. His contemporaries gave
him unstinted praise for his devotion and
for his ability as an orator and an orgaii-
iser. He died Feb. 14, 1895,
30 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
lowing trades: painters, bine-stone cutters, granite cutters,
marble cutters, roofers, stone setters, stair-builders, sash and
blind makers, and stone workers. ^'^ Four years later this em-
ployers' association was represented by a conference commit-
tee of three which met several times with a like number of rep-
resentatives from the Carpenters and Joiners, the Amalgamated
Carpenters and Joiners, and Stair-Builders' Unions. It was
proposed at this time to make the conference committee a per-
manent institution to settle future trade disputes in an ami-
cable manner without recourse to strikes.^® But the uncer-
tain success of the system did not lead to its adoption until
later.
An adjourned meeting of the Master Mechanics of Boston,
called togther by a committee appointed at a mass meeting held
February 12, 1867, met on March 7 following and adopted
a preamble and resolutions. An executive committee of thirty-
six members, indicating the composite nature of the organisa-
tions, was drawn from the employers in fourteen different
trades. ^'^ The secretary, Thomas D. Morris, said he had never
been able to see the justice and reasonableness of the eight-hour
system. It seemed to him that it was a practical dictation on
the part of the employes, whether or not he should continue in
his business more than eight hours.
These " Master Mechanics " asserted their readiness and
willingness to do everything in their power to advance the con-
dition of their employes. But they unanimously resolved that
in their observations as to the effect of labour upon the physical
or mental faculties of mankind they had yet to find that ten
hours of diligent, faithful labour is a burdensome tax upon the
vitality or energies of any class of men. They also announced
it as their " sincere conviction that any general reduction in
the number of hours of labor for a day's work would prove
ultimately injurious " and that " on these grounds we shall be
persistent in exacting ten hours labor for a day's work." ^^
" Very disinterested and important testimony ! " exclaimed
26 American Workman, Apr. 24, 1869. makers, blacksmiths, founders, marble
26 Chicago Workinffman's Advocate, workers, copper and tin roofers, and cop-
Apr, 19, 1873. persmiths.
27 Masons, plumbers, plasterers, paint- 28 Boston DaUy Evening Voice, Mar. 8,
ers, slaters, freestone cutters, carpenters, 1867; quoted from the Boston Daily Ad-
granite cutters, machinists and boiler- vertiaer, Mar. 8, 1867.
EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATIONS 31
the labour editor of the Boston Voice.^^ " As if the fisher-
man should testify that it did not hurt eels to be skinned ! "
On June 19, 1872, 400 employers in N'ew York held a con-
ference to secure concerted action for the maintenance of the
ten-hour system, and during the same year in some places the
manufacturers combined, binding themselves in one instance to
the sum of $1,000 each, to break up the organisations of the
workingmen.^^ In July, 1872, the Employers' Central Execu-
tive Committee of New York, which, according to several la-
bour sources, was " nothing else than a trade union of employ-
ers,'' sent into the industrial districts a great number of
circulars containing a list of eleven questions concerning the
possibilities of employers' associations. The fifth and sixth
questions were as follows :
" 5. Would a combination of employers engaged in one busi-
ness be able to successfully overcome a strike of their workmen
if the strikers were supported by means of assessments levied
upon workmen of other trades, then in employment ?
" 6. Would a General Combination of Employers, represent-
ing diverse business interests, be successful in such a case as is
supposed in the last question ? "
The circulation of such a list of questions certainly indicates
more than ordinary eagerness for information. One of the
other questions suggests activity of a kind not elsewhere indi-
cated. It is this : " Would it be possible to enact and enforce
laws, without encroaching upon the liberties of the people,
that would wholly or at any considerable extent, prevent the
interruption of industry and the other evil consequences of
strikes? "31
Without going further into the details of employers' asso-
ciation activity at this time, it may be said in conclusion that
a large number of early examples might be added to the illus-
trations given above. Each additional case but corroborates
the impression already given.
But there were several instances which prove that, hostile
29 Ibid., Mar. 9, 1867. Workmen of the United States, by the
30 McNeill, The Labor Movement : The New York Employers' Central Exocutire
Problem of To-day, 143, 146. Committee, 1872.' (Pamphlet in New
31 Chicago Workingman's Advocate, York Public Library.)
Nov. 23, 1872: Address to the IrUelligevt
32 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
as the typical employers' associations of the period were to-
ward labour organisations, yet they occasionally found that their
relations might be made mutually profitable.
The relatively high stage of organisation, among both work-
men and employers, demonstrated to each element the advan-
tages of united action. And it naturally suggested the next
step. If individual workmen, by submerging their little differ-
ences in union agreements, secured exclusive privileges in bar-
gaining; and if individual employers by uniting in turn
relieved competition among themselves, what could be more
natural than a desire to unite the two organised elements for
the purpose of securing still greater benefits? The associated
employers might agree to hire none but union men, providing
the union men would agree to work exclusively for the asso-
ciated employers. This would tend to force outsiders of both
elements into the organisations with a practical monopoly of
the trade, the employers could raise wages and at the same time
increase profits by exacting higher prices from the public. And
this form of understanding, now notable in the building trades
of several cities under the name " exclusive agreement," was
attempted as early as 1865. One of our earliest examples, too,
is among the building trades. This interesting overdevelop-
ment of the trade agreement beyond its legitimate scope of pro-
tecting labour and equalising the competitive labour conditions
of employers, occurred among the bricklayers of Baltimore.
The journeymen bricklayers of this city had been organised
nearly a year, when, in the spring of 1865, their employers had
the first serious trouble in arranging satisfactory terms. About
the first of February the employers received ofiicial information
of an intended demand for an increase in wages. This increase
was to take effect April 1. They were invited by the journey-
men to attend a special meeting or conference for the purpose
of arranging matters to the satisfaction of both parties. At this
meeting the Master Bricklayers' Association agreed to continue
their policy of employing strictly union men. After the jour-
neymen had withdrawn from the conference the employers
revised their old scale of prices, and at a later meeting took
measures to secure its general enforcement upon the building
public. This plan was reflected in a resolution requesting the
NATIONAL TEADES' ASSEMBLY 33
journeymen not to work for any employer that failed to join
the employers' association. But the journeymen refused to
do this on the ground that such an agreement would force all
small contractors to abide by the advanced list. They felt that
the blame for an exorbitant book of prices would be thrown
upon the journeymen's union by the Baltimore public. In
order to punish them for this refusal the employers reduced
wages 50 cents per day, whereupon the journeymen struck.
The disclosure of the employers' association plan for an " ex-
clusive agreement " came to light during the strike.^ ^
But while occasionally employers may have been willing to
give recognition to the trade unions for the purpose of crushing
competition, there was little desire to recognise them for the
legitimate purpose of entering into trade agreements.
While the principal labour leaders expressed a willingness —
almost an eagerness — to meet the employers in conference for
the settlement of disputes, the officers of employers' associations
generally discouraged such meetings by refusing to recognise
the labour unions. In fact they tried to break them up by
blacklisting and refusing to give employment to union members.
The employers had yet to overcome the feeling that meeting
committees of their own workmen on a basis of business equality
was " beneath the dignity " of employers.
INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL ASSEMBLY OF. NORTH
AMERICA
The idea of a national federation of labour was agitated at
the national convention of the machinists' and blacksmiths'
union in ^November, 1860. President Isaac S. Casson sug-
gested in his address ^^the co-operative alliance of all trades,
and the erection of Trades' Assemblies to represent them,
subordinate to a National Trades' Congress." ^^ And again,
at the convention the following year, resolutions were adopted
favouring the appointment by the various trades having na-
tional organisations, of a committee which should meet and
form a national trades' assembly.^* These attempts, made at
szFincher's, May 6 and 13, 1865. Blacksmiths of the United States of Amer-
33 National Union of Machinists and ica, Proceedings, 1860.
34J6id., 1861, p. 25.
U HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
a time when the few existing national trade unions lay pros-
trate under the stress of unemployment and of the general dis-
turbed conditions, naturally remained fruitless. When the next
serious effort to create a national organisation was made in the
spring of 1864, it emanated not from the national trade unions
but from the trades' assemblies. In April, 1864, the corre-
sponding secretary of the assembly at Louisville issued a letter
to the trades' assemblies of the United States and Canada,
asking for their views with regard to the calling of a national
convention and suggesting that the convention should be held in
the city of Louisville in July of that year.^^
The answers to this letter were few, and another appeal was
made in August. The president of the Louisville ^® assembly
issued a call setting the date of the convention for September
21. This call indicates clearly the trade union situation at the
time. Although addressed " to the officers and members of the
Trades' Assemblies," its authors appreciated the necessity of
national trade unions, for they proposed that the trades' as-
sembly should become the agent ^^ to organise the mechanics of
every branch, and, if necessary, labouring men into protective
unions and draw these unions into international bodies, such
as moulders, machinists and blacksmiths, printers, etc." That
the proposed international federation of labour was intended
to embrace these international trade unions is evident from the
advantages that would result therefrom. " Should the em-
ployers by combination attempt to overthrow any one branch
of the trades, the other branches or organisations of mechanics
would make the cause of the trade or branch struck at, their
cause, and would lend their aid and sympathy to the trade." ^"^
It is apparent, therefore, that the Louisville trades' assembly
desired to see in the future an organisation similar to the
present General Confederation of Labour in France in which
trades' assemblies (Bourses du Travail) and national trade
unions are represented on an equal footing.
Another more important advantage to be derived from a na-
35 Pincher's, Apr. 30, 1864. 37 This could not refer merely to a mu-
se The president was Robert Gilchrist, tual protection of trades within one trades'
who had started the anti-war agitation in assembly, because that would be no inno-
Louisville in 1860. He was later ap- vation and it would not require any na-
pointed chief of police of that city. tional federation.
NATIONAL TRADES^ ASSEMBLY 35
tional federation, according to the call, would be the final aboli-
tion of strikes and the establishment of trade agreements. The
combination would become so powerful " that the capitalists or
employers will cease to refuse us our just demands, and will, if
we make any unreasonable demands, condescend to come down
on a level with us, and by argument and positive proof, show
to us that our demands are unjust, but this would have to be ex-
plained to the satisfaction of the trades' assembly of the city
in which the demand was made.'' The last sentence shows that
the authors recognised the local trades' assembly as more in-
fluential than the national trade union.
The call ended with an expression of the belief that " there
are over two hundred thousand ^^ mechanics now represented in
protective unions in the United States and Canada, and that
they could be brought under the jurisdiction of the interna-
tional trades' assembly in less than six months."
On the appointed day twelve delegates met in the trades' as-
sembly hall in Louisville. They represented trades' assemblies
of eight cities in as many States. ^^ Richard F. Trevellick,
of Detroit, was the only delegate who later achieved national
prominence in the labour movement.
The delegates at first apparently had no clear conception of
the purpose of the meeting. *^ A committee of eight, one from
each State represented, was appointed to draft a constitution
and the remaining delegates were appointed on a committee on
resolutions. The two committees soon worked out a plan of
organisation based on the principle of trade unionism.
The preamble to the constitution, in its final form, called
attention to the fact that the capitalists had banded themselves
together in secret organisation, " for the express purpose of
crushing out our manhood " ; that " capital has assumed to it-
88 This is doubtless above the actual chosen to represent you in the Convention
figure. at Louisville, you were in comparative ig-
30 Buffalo, Detroit, Louisville, Boston, norance as to what was intended to be
Cincinnati, Chicago, Evansville (Ind.), accomplished at that session. Accord-
and St. Louis. For complete list of dele- ingly, your delegate experienced no small
gates and reprint of " the Call," the reso- degree of embarrassment on entering the
lutions and the constitution, see Doc. Hist., Convention on the morning of its assem-
IX, 118-125. bling. But when the Convention had as-
40 Whittier, the delegate from Boston, sembled and became duly organised, I
who was elected chairman of the conven- found that all the other delegates were like
tion, said in his report to the organisation myself, they had no definite idea of what
which he represented: " It is well known was intended to be done." Boston Daily
to you, gentlemen, that at the time I was Evening Voice, Dec. 30, 1864.
36 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
self the right to owii and control labour/^ and that " experience
has demonstrated the utility of concentrated effort in arriving
at specified ends.'' For this purpose the " International In-
dustrial Assembly of North America " was formed. Its chief
object was " to use every honourable means in our power to
adjust difficvilties that may arise between employers and work-
men, to labour assiduously for the development of a plan of ac-
tion that may be mutually beneficial to both parties ; to use our
influence to discountenance strikes, except when they become
absolutely necessary, and to devise the best means of supporting
such organisations as may be driven to the necessity of resorting
to such means to force a recognition of their rights." That this
support was intended to be more than merely nominal is de-
rived from the following clause : '^ In order to create a fund
for the practical benefit of any organisation of workingmen
which may be struck by the capitalists unjustly, this assembly
may at any stated and regular meeting levy a per capita tax of
five cents on every organised workingman through the various
trades' assemblies of America and to be kept in their treasuries
subject to the order of the International body."
The principle of conciliation was afiirmed in the words of a
special resolution proclaiming the right of the workingmen to be
the judges of the value of their labour and that as ^^ the creators
of wealth they are entitled, equally with capital, to a fair and
equal participation in its benefits, . . . but while thus clearly
defining our fimdamental rights, as a measure of courtesy and
mutual confidence, we would recommend in the adjustment of
wages, as a preliminary step, consultation with employing
capitalists, with a view to the adoption of a scale of wages which
may be mutually satisfactory to both parties."
The otlier resolutions relating to trade union action were one
recommending that the various trades' assemblies should em-
ploy, in order of precedence according to the date of their or-
ganisation, salaried travelling organisers, subject to orders from
the International Assembly; one urging that the local trades'
assemblies come to the aid of the sewing women ; and one offer-
ing support to the members of the Chicago Typographical
Union, recently discharged by the proprietors of the Chicago
Times, and affirming that this effort was the result of a combi-
NATION^AL TRADES* ASSEMBLY 37
nation of capitalists, known as the Northwestern Publishing As-
sociation, to break up the typographical union. *^
Attention was also given to legislation, and the trades' as-
semblies were urged to work for laws prohibiting the store-order
system and abolishing the competition of prison labour. They
were also " to agitate the justness to all who labour for support
that eight hours should constitute a legal day's work.''
The movement for consumers' co-operation was highly recom-
mended and the trades' assemblies were advised to establish
stores for groceries and provisions. ^^
The next meeting of the international assembly was set for
Detroit, in May, 1865, but the meeting did not occur.
The exclusive prominence given by the convention to trade
union action reflects the prosperous conditions of industry and
the prevailing success of local trade unions in securing higher
wages. Less significant is the form of organisation adopted
for the International Industrial Assembly. The plan proposed
in the Louisville call, looking forward to a mixed organisa-
tion of trades' assemblies and national trade unions was evi-
dently abandoned, for the convention made no provision for the
representation of the existing national trade unions, to say
nothing of aiding in the establishment of new ones. The local
trades' assembly was to be the only unit of organisation, each
assembly having one vote in the international assembly. The
Chicago WorTcingman's Advocate, commenting upon the Louis-
ville convention, found the International Industrial Assembly
superior to the national trade union because " there are thou-
sands of mechanics and workingmen on this continent who
never have been, and never will be, represented in an Interna-
tional Union of their particular branch of Labor," and be-
cause it was less expensive to support.^ ^
Thus the American labour movement in 1864 found itself
little further advanced in the form of organisation than the
movement of the thirties. The national trade unions which
*i This association was organised pri- upon the workmen of the country the duty
marily as a news agency similar to the As- of sustaining Fincher'g Trades' Review,
■ociated Press, but evidently it performed the Workingman's Advocate, and the Buf-
functions of an employers' association, at falo Sentinel, and censuring the Chicago
present performed by the American News- Times for its persecution of the members
paper Publishers' Association. of the typographical union.
42 A resolution was also passed urging 43 Fincher's, Oct. 22, 1864.
as HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
were in existence in 1864 were unable to compete with the
trades' assemblies for the honour of establishing a national
federation of labour. They were too few in number, too weak,
and too much occupied in their struggle with employers' asso-
ciations.
While the Louisville convention was clearly an attempt of the
scattered trades' assemblies in the country to form a national
federation on a purely trade union basis, an effort was made
to inoculate it with politics, although this does not directly ap-
pear in the proceedings. The following occurs in Whittier's
report to the Boston Trades' Assembly, from which we have al-
ready quoted : ^' Considering that there were some objection-
able sections in the Constitution as adopted, and frankly stat-
ing that the Boston Assembly would object to being hampered
with anything of a political character on the eve of a presi-
dential election, the vote was reconsidered and on my earnest
representation, the objectionable features were stricken out." **
The political tendency was evidently represented by Blake,
the delegate from Chicago and publisher of the Worhingmans
Advocate. He had read the majority report of the committee
on constitution in which Whittier must have found the ob-
jectionable political features, and, after a prolonged discussion,
the minority report, presented by Whittier, was adopted by the
convention, and the majority report was not printed.
The Louisville convention brought no practical results, mainly
because the organisations that composed it did not yet feel the
pressing need of a national federation. The movement for
higher wages was carried on almost universally with success by
the local trade unions assisted by the local assemblies. In view
of this success the need of favourable legislation, which two
years later forced the formation of the National Labor Union,
was not yet felt. At the same time, there was no necessity of
a national agency for the purpose of deciding jurisdictional dis-
putes — an important function of the American Federation of
Labor at a later time — because the sphere of action of each
trades' assembly was well defined by geographic boundaries and
the jurisdictional disputes arising between the trade unions in
each city could be settled by the trades' assembly. This ac-
44 Boston Daily Evening Voice, Dec. 80,1664.
NATIONAL TEADES' ASSEMBLY 39
counts for the lukewarm attitude of the trades' assemblies
toward the idea of a national federation.
There was yet another cause. The Philadelphia Trades' As-
sembly, the strongest in the country, refused to send delegates
to the Louisville convention. When the letter from the Louis-
ville assembly, inviting delegates to meet in their city, was pre-
sented to the Philadelphia assembly, a committee composed of
Sylvis, Fincher, and Graham was appointed to consider the mat-
ter, *^ but the committee apparently never reported. The rea-
son is not difficult to guess. Sylvis and Fincher were officers
of the two strongest national trade unions, the moulders', and
the machinists' and blacksmiths', and a national organisation
with a trades' assembly as its unit could not appeal to them.
After the convention, the Philadelphia assembly adopted the
view that, since the local assemblies possessed only advisory
powers, the delegates to the international assembly had over-
stepped their powers in providing for the levy of a tax upon
members of local unions. *^
DISTRIBUTIVE CO-OPERATION
Following the upward sweep of prices, workmen had begun
toward the end of 1862 to make definite preparations for dis-
tributive co-operation. They endeavoured to cut off the profits
of the middleman by establishing co-operative grocery stores,
meat markets, and coal yards. The first substantial effort of
this kind to attract wide attention was the formation in De-
cember, 1862, of the Union Co-operative Association of Phil-
adelphia. The prime mover and the financial secretary of this
organisation was Thomas Phillips, *^ a shoemaker who came
45 Fincher's, June 4, 1864. to city working at his trade, engaging in
46 Fincher's, Oct. 22, 1864. This view a strike as a picket during the first year,
was not entirely correct, because the as- He was active in organising his trade and
sembly of Rochester was empowered to became interested in co-operation upon
levy strike assessments. reading Holyoake's History of Oo-oper-
47 Thomas Phillips was born in 1833 ation in England. He started in Phila-
on a farm in Yorkshire, England. At the dclphia the first co-operative association in
age of sixteen he became apprenticed to a America, the Union Co-operative Associa-
shoemaker in a small town in Lancashire, tion, on the Rochdale plan. This associa-
where he soon joined the union of which tion failed in 1866 after it had branched
his boss was secretary. He also joined out, contrary to Phillip's advice, into four
the Chartist movement. In 1852 he stores.
bought his liberty before his term of ap- Phillips was closely identified with the
prenticeship was over and came to Amer- Knights of St. Crispin, the national union
ica. Here he moved for a time from city of the shoemakers which existed from
40 HISTORY OF LABOUR IX THE UXITED STATES
from England in 1852, fired with the principles of his brother
craftsmen, the Rochdale pioneers. One year after the Phila-
delphia store was opened Phillips could write : " One of the
brightest spots on earth to my vision, is the little dingy one-
story co-operative shop, 917 Federal Street, Philadelphia.
Its very reticence throughout the day and through all but three
nights in the week, is pleasing to me. . . . They adhere to the
rigid old Rochdale system.'' *^
Starting in this small way, the pioneer Philadelphia experi-
ment expanded with several small branches in various parts of
the city. Toward the end of its second year, it planned, al-
though it never carried into effect, a series of wholesale dis-
tributing centres including country storehouses for farm pro-
ducts and city wholesale establishments for direct distribution
to its retail stores.
Meanwhile Phillips, over the name of ^^ Worker," contributed
to the columns of Fincher's Trades* Review, the national labour
weekly, a series of enthusiastic letters in which he explained the
Rochdale plan and enlarged upon the possibilities of co-opera-
tion in America. Twice during the first year, to meet urgent
demands for information, Finchers Review found it necessary
to reprint in full the rules of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers'
Society, then beginning its twentieth year in England. Letters
of inquiry poured in upon the editor from all parts of America,
and before the end of 1863 notices of the organisation of similar
co-operative grocery stores had been received from Buffalo, New
York; Susquehanna Depot, Pennsylvania; and from Lawrence
1867 to 1878, and especially in the work cured with the daily Public Record, at a
of furthering productive co-operation. salary of $1,000.
He favoured a co-operative factory open In 1876 Phillips became president of a
to all Crispins rather than one controlled cooperative company started by the local
by a small group. His idea prevailed and assemblies of District Assembly 1. At
the enterprise began with $20,000 capital, the same time he was engaged in the Peter
each member having to pay in $200 at $1 Cooper presidential campaign. In 1887
per week, the profits to be divided between he ran for mayor of Philadelphia on a
the interest on capital, labour, and cus- labour ticket. In 1889 he was elected
torn. After four years, partly as a result president of the Boot and Shoe Workers'
of the opposition of the disappointed Oris- International Union,
pins who desired a limited group in con- While still working in a Philadelphia
trol, the enterprise failed. Phillips was shoe factory, he presented, in 1905, his
organiser of the Sovereigns of Industry in valuable collection of rare labour papers,
the late seventies and at an earlier date including a complete file of Fincher't
he had been the first shoemaker to join Trades' Review, to the University of Wis-
the Knights of Labor. He was elected consin Library. He died in 1916 at the
to represent his local in District Assem- age of eighty-four,
bly 1, and was placed in charge of the 48 Fincher's, Dec. 3, 1864.
labour column which the organisation se-
CO-OPERATION 41
and Charleston, Massachusetts. During 1864 stores were
opened in Providence and Woonsocket, Rhode Island; in
Springfield and Fitchburg, Massachusetts; in Albany, Troy,
Ilion, Brownsville, and Schenectady, New York; and farther
west in Cincinnati, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan. The follow-
ing year witnessed the spread of distributive co-operation from
Biddeford, Maine, to Carondelet, Missouri, with new stores
announced also in Worcester, Pawtucket, Bridgeport, New
York, Trenton, Baltimore, Pittston, and Evansville. The agi-
tation continued and in the early months of 1866 stores were
added in LoAvell, Chelsea, Taunton, Cohoes, St. Clair, Cleve-
land, Kensing-ton, and Chicago.
There was continued writing and speaking on the subject
during the following year, and the movement had extended
until practically every important industrial town betv/een Bos-
ton and San Francisco had some kind of distributive co-opera-
tion. Disastrous failures, however, toward the end of 1865
foreshadowed the end of the movement in the sixties. With the
fall of prices immediately after the close of the War, ac-
companied not only by a lessening of interest in co-operative
gTocery stores but also by the failure of strikes, there developed
suddenly, as we shall later see, a pronounced movement toward
productive co-operation.
CHAPTER III
THE NATIONAL TRADE UNIONS, 1864-1873
Causes and General Progress. Effect of the nationalisation of the market,
43. National trade unions in the thirties, 43. Effect of national labour
competition, 44. Effect of employers' associations, 44. Effect of machinery
and the division of labour, 44. Organisation of national trade unions,
1861-1873, 45. Growth of their membership, 47. The national trade union
— the paramount aspect of nationalisation, 48.
The Moulders. The epitomisation of the labour movement, 48. Activi-
ties during the War, 48. Beginning of employers' associations, 49. The
lull in the organisation of employers during the period of prosperity, 49.
West and East, 50. The American National Stove Manufacturers' and
Iron Founders' Association, 50. The apprenticeship question, 50. Strike
in Albany and Troy, 51. Withdrawal of the Buffalo and St. Louis foundry-
men from the Association, 51. General strike against wage reductions,
51. Defeat of the union, 52. Restriction on strikes by the national
union, 52. The turn to co-operation, 53. Sylvis' view on the solution
of the labour question, 53. The co-operative shops, 53. The Troy
shops, 54. Their business success but failure as co-operative enterprises,
54. Disintegration of the employers' association, 55. Revival of trade
unionism, 55.
Machinists and Blacksmiths. Intellectual ascendency of the machinists
in the labour movement, 56. Employers' associations, 56. Effect of the
depression, 57. Effect of the eight-hour agitation on the union, 57. Re-
vival in 1870, 58.
Printers. The National Typographical Union, 58. " Conditional mem-
bership," 58. National strike fund, 59. Persistent localist tendency, 59.
The Northwestern Publishers' Association, 61.
Locomotive Engineers. Cause of nationalisation, 61. Piece work, 62.
Brotherhood of the Footboard, 62. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers,
62. Charles Wilson, and his attitude towards public opinion, 63. Strike
on the Michigan Southern, 64. Railways' blacklist, 64. Brotherhood's
attitude towards incorporation, 66. Brotherhood's conservatism, 65. Dis-
content of the local branches, 66. Wilson's incorporation move, 66. Failure
in Congress, 67. Growth of the opposition to Wilson, 67. His removal
from office, 67. P. M. Arthur, 67. The benefit system, 68.
Cigar Makers. The effect of the War revenue law, 69. Growth of the
international union, 1864-1869, 70. Introduction of the mould, 71. Strike
against the mould, 72. Attitude towards the mould of the conventions of
1867 and 1872, 72. Failure of the anti-mould policy, 73.
Coopers. Effect of the machine, 74. Martin A. Foran, 75. Career of
the International Coopers' Union, 76. Robert Schilling, 76. Co-operative
attempts, 76.
42
NATIONAL UNIONS 43
Knights of St. Crispin. The factory system, 76. "Green hands," 77.
Aim of the Crispins, 77. Crispin strikes, 78. Their principal causes, 78.
Attitude towards co-operation, 79.
Sons of Vulcan. The puddler's bargaining advantage, 80. The sliding
scale agreement, 80.
Restrictive Policies — Apprenticeship. The beginning of restrictive
policies, 81. Effect of the wider market on apprenticeship, 81. Effect of
the increased scale of production, 81. The "botches," 82. Sylvis' view,
82, Limitation of numbers, 82. Policies of the national trade unions, 83.
Regulation of apprenticeship in the printer's trade, 83.
CAUSES AND GENERAL PROGRESS
In a sense every period in the industrial development of a
country may be called a period of transition. However, this
characterisation would apply with greater strength than usual to
the sixties. At the present time, when Marx and Sombart have
been popularised, we generally think of technical evolution
alone when we speak of the evolution of industry. Yet we for-
get that no change in technique, not including even the utilisa-
tion of steam as a motive power, has ever had so simultaneous
an effect upon all industries as had the sudden extension of the
market due to the railway consolidation of the fifties, an effect
which awaited only the years of prosperity of the sixties to be-
come visible. Steam had revolutionised the textile industry
at an early date, but for a long time it had left the other in-
dustries almost unaffected. The creation of a national market
fundamentally changed the price-fixing forces in the majority
of the industries, and therefore could not help producing a
most thoroughgoing effect upon the struggle between industrial
classes.
In the field of trade unionism the nationalisation of the
market gave birth to the national trade union. To be sure,
there had been some attempt at " national ^' trade unions dur-
ing the thirties, such as the national conventions of the printers
and cordwainers. It is nevertheless true that it was only dur-
ing the sixties that labour organisations began to think and act
on a lasting national basis. Moreover the " nation " over which
the unions of the thirties had spread their activities was, prop-
erly speaking, nothing more than a region of neighbouring
towns such as the " greater industrial New York " of to-day.
There were four distinct sets of causes which operated dur-
ing the sixties to bring about nationalisation; two grew out of
44 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
changes in transportation, and two were largely independent of
such changes.
The first and most far-reaching cause, as illustrated by the
stove moulders, was the competition of the products of different
localities side by side in the same market. Wherever that was
the case, nationalisation was destined to proceed to its utmost
length. In order that union conditions should be maintained
even in the best organised centres, it then became imperatively
necessary to equalise competitive conditions in the various
localities. That led to a well-knit national organisation to
control working conditions, trade rules, and strikes. In other
trades, where the competitive area of the product was still re-
stricted to the locality, the paramount nationalising influence
was the competition for employment between migratory out-
of-town journeymen and the locally organised mechanics. This
describes the situation in the printing trade, where the bulk
of the work was still newspaper and not book and job printing.
Accordingly, the printers did not need to entrust their na-
tional officers with anything more than the control of the
travelling journeymen, and the result was that the local unions
remained practically independent. The third cause of con-
certed national action in a trade was the organisation of em-
ployers. When the power of a local union began to be threat-
ened by an employers' association, the next logical step was to
combine in a national union. Thus it transpired that the nu-
merous local employers' associations which sprang up during
1864 and 1865 gave the impetus to the nationalisation of the
labour movement.
The fourth cause was the application of machinery and the
introduction of division of labour, which split up the
old established trades and laid industry open to invasion by
" green hands." The shoemaking industry which, during the
sixties had reached the factory stage, illustrates this in a most
striking manner. Few other industries experienced anything
like a similar change during this period.
Of course, none of the causes of nationalisation here enumer-
ated operated in entire isolation. In some trades one cause,
in other trades other causes, had the predominating influence.
Consequently, in some trades the national union resembled an
NATIONAL UNIONS 45
agglomeration of loosely allied states, each one reserving the
right to engage in independent warfare and expecting from its
allies no more than a benevolent neutrality. In other trades,
on the contrary, the national union was supreme in declaring
war and in making peace, and even claimed absolute right to
formulate the ^' civil " laws of the trade for times of industrial
peace.
Although some nationals were organised before 1864, it is
at this time that an appreciable movement started towards na-
tionalisation. Four nationals were organised in this year as
compared to two organised in 1863, none in 1862, and one in
1861. A call was also issued from the tin, sheet iron, and
copper workers, the upholsterers, and house painters, but there
is no evidence that these unions met. The nationals organised
before the War took a leap forward. The National Typo-
graphical Union at its session of 1864 reported 14 new charters
issued, against 6 reported in 1863 and 1 in 1862. No con-
vention was held in 1861.^ The Iron Molders' Union reported
in that same year (1864) 46 new charters and a total member-
ship of 6,7Y8 as compared to 3,500 in 1863.^ The Machinists
and Blacksmiths' Union was the only national that did not
recover the strength it enjoyed prior to the War, having 87
locals before the War commenced and reporting in 1864 a
smaller representation than in former sessions.^
This process of nationalisation once started, lasted for ten
years, the number of nationals cropping up and the number of
members gained by those already in existence varying with
the prosperity or depression in business during that time. Dur-
ing the period of intense business activity which lasted from
1863 to 1866, caused by the inflation of greenbacks and the
demands of the War, ten national unions sprang up in two
years: the Plasterers' National Union, National Union of
Journeymen Curriers, the Ship Carpenters' and Caulkers' In-
ternational Union, National Union of Cigar Makers in 1864,
and the Coach Makers' International Union, the Journeymen
Painters' National Union, National Union of Heaters, Tailors'
1 National Typographical Union, Pro- 5, 1862, May 4, 1863, and May 2, 1864.
ceedings, 1864, including the tenth, elev- 2 Iron Molders' International Union,
enth, and twelfth sessions, held at New Proceedings, 1865.
York, Cleveland, and Louisville, Ky., May 3 See above, II, 9.
46 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
National Union, Carpenters' and Joiners' International Union,
Bricklayers' and Masons' International Union in 1865.
In 1866 industry entered upon a period of depression, but
recovered in 1868. The flush times of the Civil War had
passed. Large and profitable contracts no longer existed and,
in addition, prices fell, owing to the contraction of the green-
backs by Congress in the early part of 1866. This condition
was reflected in the labour movement. Not a single national
was organised in 1866; the spinners alone appeared in 1867.
In 1868 the Knights of St. Crispin and the Grand Division
of the Order of Kailway Conductors organised, and in 1869
the wool hat finishers, the Daughters of St. Crispin, and the
Morocco Dressers — a total of 7 nationals in 4 years, compared
with 10 in the preceding 2 years. The unions already in ex-
istence, although they gained, did not gain as rapidly as in the
previous period. At the convention of the Iron Molders held
in 1865, the president, Sylvis, reported 53 locals chartered; in
1866 he reported 38 ; in 1868, 32 ; and in 1870, 14. The num-
ber of locals organised by the printers shows a similar decline.
In 1866, 18 were reported organised during the previous year;
in 1868, 14; and in 1870, 11. Not only were fewer locals or-
ganised than in the previous years, but many more were sus-
pended for non-payment of dues, for ^^ ratting," and for being
composed of " unfair " men. Actual figures of the number
dropped are not available, but that they left a big gap in trade
union ranks may be gathered from the general amnesty laws
passed a few years later by most nationals. The national union
of the machinists and blacksmiths fell off to about 1,500 mem-
bers in 1870.
In the summer of 1870 business, which in the preceding two
years had been normal or slightly above normal, became good
and remained so for approximately three years — until the
panic of 1873. Nine nationals appeared in these three years
— the telegraphers', and the International Coopers' Union of
North America in 1870; the painters' in 1871; the woodwork-
ing mechanics, and the Brotherhood of Iron and Steel Heaters,
Rollers, and Roughers of the United States in 1872; the Na-
tional Union of Iron and Steel Roll Hands of the United States,
the furniture workers, the Miners' National Association and
NATIONAL UNIONS 47
the Brotherliood of Locomotive firemen in 1873. This period,
however, is marked by the internal growth of the unions that
organised in this and in previous periods. The machinists and
blacksmiths, who had 1,500 members in 1870, had 18,000 mem-
bers at the end of this period. The Sons of Vulcan, who had
1,260 members in 1870, had 3,048 members in 1873. The
coopers, who organised in 1870, had a membership of 10,050 *
at the end of two years. The Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers, whose membership in 1869 was 4,108, had 9,000 in
1873. The anthracite miners grew to about 30,000 in this
period, and the Knights of St. Crispin reached the unparalleled
membership of 50,000. The cigar makers alone showed no
gain.
An estimate of the total trade union membership at one
time, in view of the total lack of reliable statistics, would be
extremely hazardous. A rough estimate made in August, 1869,
by a correspondent of the New York Herald, resulted in a total
of approximately 170,000.^ A labour leader® claimed at the
same time that the total was as high as 600,000. It appears
that it would not be far from the truth to put the membership
during 1870-1872 at about 300,000, a figure which seems to
provide amply for the increase after 1869.
Thus, during this ten-year period there were organised
twenty-six national unions. Taking into consideration those
that appeared before 1864, namely, the International Typo-
graphical Union, 1850, Machinists' and Blacksmiths' Interna-
tional Union, and the Iron Holders' International Union in
1859, the American Miners' Association in 1861, the National
Forge of the Sons of Vulcan (boilers and puddlers), 1862, the
Grand National Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers in 1863, there were altogether thirty-two nationals
* Amcrtcan TTorfcmon, Feb. 10, 1872. Trade Branches Members
6 The membership was apportioned as Machinists and Blacksmiths 120 10,000
follows: Grand Forge of the U. S.. . 78 1,600
Engineers 11 621
Trade Branches Members Tailors 35 2,000
Carpenters and Joiners 77 6,000 Locomotive Firemen 85 8,000
Cigar Makers 95 5,000 Masons 8 2,000
Bricklayers 70 15,000 Painters 3 1,600
Typographical Unions 112 17,000 Metal Workers 5 850
Knights of St, Crispin 147 50,000 Cigar Packers 25 2,500
Coopers 20 5,000 Miners 30 30,000
Plasterers 18 2,500
Iron Molders 204 17.000 6 A. 0. Oameron.
48 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
in existence during the ten years. Most of them called them-
selves " nationals." Those that prefixed the " inter " did so on
the claim of a few locals in Canada.
It was the national trade union rather than any other lorm
of nationalisation, such as the formation of a political National
Labor party, that gives us the right to call the period of the
sixties the period of the " nationalisation " of the labour move-
ment. The national trade union of the sixties marked a lasting
change in the basis of trade union action, a change in the daily
activity of union officers and members, and one necessarily
accompanied by a change in their mode of thinking.
THE MOULDERS
The stove moulders have epitomised the American trade union
movement not only throughout the sixties, but even to the
present day. Owing to the standardised nature of their prod-
uct, they were the first to feel the depressing influence of a
national market and we have consequently seen them driven to
organise a national union as early as 1859. But that was not
the only respect wherein the moulding industry formed the van-
guard: The national organisation on the side of labour was
soon followed by an attempted national organisation on the side
of the employers. Eventually, after the two had measured
strength and had found that neither could completely subdue
the other, they did the logical thing and, in 1890, developed the
trade agreement system, which became the prototype for all
other industries. But confining ourselves to the period, there
is still another reason why the moulders^ history is of the great-
est interest. If their development had been strictly along the
road of trade unionism, without deviating either to the side
of productive co-operation or to that of political action, they
would, to be sure, have epitomised the American labour move-
ment in its broadest aspects, but, at the same time, we could
hardly have considered them a typical labour organisation of
the sixties. That they did not follow such a straight line of
development, at one time almost wholly abandoning trade union-
ism for co-operation and general labour reform, marks them as
part and parcel of the general labour movement of the sixties.
THE MOULDERS 49
As soon as the industrial depression which had been pre-
cipitated by the War had worn away, President Sylvis of the
Holders' International began an active campaign of organisa-
tion over the country. His weekly letters, which ran in
Fincher's Trades' Review through the latter part of 1863 as
well as through 1864, described his impressions of the various
cities he visited, and bear ample testimony to his untiring ac-
tivity. The trade was so prosperous that it was sufficient
merely to organise in order to obtain concessions from the
employers. Consequently the union was not only successful
in raising wages but also in enforcing its trade rules, especially
with regard to apprenticeship. But the very great initial suc-
cess was responsible for creating a new set of circumstances in
the trade which made it the arena of the hardest fought labour
conflicts of the period, namely, the organisation of a national
employers' association, the first ever organised in this country.
As early as September, 1863, a group of iron founders from
Louisville, 'New Albany, and Jeffersonville, Ohio, met and
organised the Iron Founders' and Machine Builders' Associa-
tion of the Falls of Ohio and adopted the following principles :
" We deny the right of the ^ Iron Moulders' Union ' to arbi-
trarily determine the wages of our employes, regardless of their
merits and the value of their services to us. . . . We deny the
right of the ' Iron Moulders' Union ' to determine for us how
many apprentices we should employ. According to . . . their
constitution they dictate to their employers that no more than
one apprentice shall be employed in each machine foundry and
one to every fifteen moulders in each stove foundry."
They stated their grievances and adopted the following course
of action:
" The corresponding secretary of the * Iron Founders' and Ma-
chine Builders^ Association of the Falls of Ohio ' shall put himself
into communication with all the parties of the principal cities of
the United States engaged in similar business to that of the mem-
bers of the Association and suffering under the same grievances.
... He shall endeavor to cause the interested parties to form
similar associations to ours. ... In case no association can be
formed . . . the Corresponding Secretary shall correspond with in-
dividual firms of other cities. . . . Should the employees in any of
our establishments stop work in order to force their employers to
50 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
submit to unreasonable demands, the . . . Association . . . shall
not employ any man engaged in such strike. The names of the par-
ties engaged in any attempt to force their employers to submit to
unreasonable demands shall be sent in circular at the expense of this
Association to all the other Associations in order that they may be
prevented from getting employment until they withdraw from the
' Moulders' Union/ or cease to attempt the enforcing of their unjust
demands." ^
In 1863 the West thus took steps towards nationalisation and
formed the association of the Falls of Ohio. In 1864 an at-
tempt was made in a similar direction in the East.^ Employ-
ers here too felt that the International Iron Molders' Union
interfered with the management of their business, and to pro-
tect each other they issued a call to all interested to meet at
!New Haven in March to form an " American Iron Founders'
Association." A number of men met but, without doing very
much, adjourned to meet at the Astor House, New York, in
the latter part of the same month. The invitation was ex-
tended to a larger number of employers covering a larger ter-
ritory, and, accordingly, at the New York meeting we find
representatives from New England, New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania. Employers of both bench and floor mould-
ers were admitted to membership.
This was the end of this association as far as a national body
is concerned ; it never got farther west than the Atlantic coast.
Times were too good in 1864 to fight the workmen. It was
not therefore until 1866 that a real national association ap-
peared. Times had grown dull at the close of the War and
it was an opportune time to strike a blow at the union which
had grown so powerful in the last few years. Delegates repre-
senting both sides of the Alleghanies met in Albany, March 4,
and formed themselves into the American National Stove Manu-
facturers' and Iron Founders' Association. They drew up a
constitution and adopted a set of resolutions declaring in the
main that they organised to resist any and all actions of the
moulders' union, to employ as many apprentices as they deemed
fit, and to exclude shop committees.^
These resolutions they posted in the different foundries of
7 Fincher't, Oct. 3, 1863. 8 Ibid., May 28, 1864. 9 Fincher't, Mar. 31, 1866.
THE MOULDERS 51
Troy and Albany, where there were about 600 moulders em-
ployed. The resolutions caused a considerable stir. A large
meeting of the moulders was held and a determination was
evinced to fight the matter out. It was decided to stop work
at once and stay out as long as the circulars remained posted.
They communicated the trouble to Sylvis who, in a short time
brought the entire resources of the national union together at
this centre. The fight lasted for several months. The Interna-
tional was as strong as the employers' association was weak and
came out of the struggle with a complete victory. It was a
fight for union principles and no effort or money was spared
to bring the matter to a successful determination. They re-
tained their shop committees, continued to regulate apprentice-
ship, and forced the removal of the obnoxious posters.
This was by no means the end of the employers' association.
It extended its operations to other cities so as to include chiefly
Ironton, Covington, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Rich-
mond, Buffalo, and St. Louis. The fight lasted for several
months and ended favourably to the unions. In most places
they won and in others some had to submit to reduction of
wages. ^^
In February, 1867, the Association met in Cincinnati and
determined to continue the fight. But here already we find
an element of disruption. The Buffalo and St. Louis found-
ers withdrew and reached an agreement with their workmen
at a reduction of 30 per cent on their former wages. The rest
of the Association voted a reduction of 60 per cent and decided
to start their work in Cincinnati. ^^ Although prices were at
their lowest in this year, such a large reduction was announced
primarily to force a fight. Sylvis who appeared on the ground
was willing to concede a reduction of 30 per cent, but that was
not the issue.
The strike started in February and lasted for fully nine
months. It was this protracted struggle that almost broke the
union. On February 16, 1867, Sylvis issued a circular sub-
mitting the question of a, special tax of 5 per cent on the earn-
ings of the members of the local unions. The circular was re-
10 Iron Molders' International Union, Proceedings, 1867,
XX Hid., 1868.
52 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
turned with 99 for the tax and 42 opposed. In April he issued
another circular asking for an increase of the special tax and
it was returned with 78 in favour and 57 opposed. Still a
third request was issued on July 30, but this time the vote was
63 in favour and 70 opposed. These figures show the down-
ward tendency of the strength of the union. Many of the
locals that voted in favour of the tax sent in words of caution
that a further increase and an effort to collect it would break
the union. Others returned circulars with a statement that
rather than pay the tax they would give up their charters.
In addition to tax exactions, times were hard. Sylvis in his
annual address to the convention of 1868 says that trade con-
ditions were exceptionally hard, that almost half of the mem-
bers were out of work and many worked on part time or small
piece work, while the necessaries of life were dear. A man at
full time could not do more than take care of his running
expenses. -^^
The immediate effect upon the union of this successful on-
slaught by the organised employers, coupled with the hard times,
was to discourage strikes. At the convention of 1868, the
Iron Molders' International Union adopted a measure which
required a favourable vote of two-thirds of all the locals in the
union to permit another local to enter into a strike and receive
dtrike benefits; and further, that it should not be permitted
to go on strike unless it had in the treasury the amount of its
indebtedness to the International. This made strikes almost
impossible. From 1868 to 1870, 37 locals issued strike cir-
culars and only 7 of these were authorised. -^^
The cumbersomeness of these regulations was obvious two
years after they were made, especially when business was pick-
ing up. Circulars sent out to locals for their vote were very
often never returned, and if returned it took two weeks before
the vote could be announced, and another two weeks passed be-
fore financial aid could be given. In spite of this unsatisfac-
tory condition the only change made in the constitution at this
session was to require a one-third negative vote to withhold
authority from a local to strike instead of requiring a two-
thirds positive vote to give it authority to strike.
12 Ibid. IS Ibid., 1870.
CO-OPERATION 53
But the defeat of the union gave rise to even a more funda-
mental change in policy than the temporary abandonment of
strikes. The very foundations of the trade union philosophy
came to be questioned and the view gained currency that, after
all, the principal goal of the labour movement must be to find
a way of escaping the wage system. Productive co-operation
was to become the substitute for trade union action.
"At last,'' exclaimed Sylvis in the summer of 1867, "after
years of earnest effort and patient waiting, and constant preach-
ing, co-operation is taking hold upon the minds of our mem-
bers, and in many places very little else is talked about." ^*
A year later he declared that the co-operative stove foundries
" marked the beginning of a new era " in his trade.
The first of these foundries, established at Troy in the early
summer of 1866, was quickly followed by one in Albany and
then during the next 18 months by 10 more — 1 each in
Rochester, Chicago, Quincy, Louisville, Somerset, Pittsburgh,
and 2 each in Troy and Cleveland. The original foundry at
Troy was an immediate financial success and was hailed with
joy by those who believed that under the name of co-operation-
ists, the baffled trade unionists might yet conquer.
But the remarkable hold that co-operation was getting over
the moulders is best attested by the fact that the Holders' In-
ternational Union at its convention in September, 1868, changed
its name to " Iron Holders' International Co-operative and
Protective Union." This step was due to Sylvis. In the
presidential report to this convention, he reiterated in much
stronger terms than ever before his disbelief in trade unionism
and his faith in co-operation. " Combination," he said, " as
we have been using or applying it, makes war upon the effects,
leaving the cause undisturbed, to produce, continually, like ef-
fects. . . . The cause of all these evils is the WAGES SYS-
TEH. . . . We must adopt a system which will divide the
profits of labor among those who produce them. . . . Should
we adjourn without such legislation as will restore confidence,
renew hopes, and give a reasonable promise of ultimate and
final success, and freedom from strikes and taxation, more than
fifty unions will return their charters before the close of
14 WeeUy Voice, Aug. 22, 1867.
54 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
1868. . . ." ^® The report further said that there were 11 co-
operative iron foundries in the country: 1 in Troy and 1 in
Albany, both established in 1866 and giving employment to
130 moulders, and 9 established in 1867 : 2 more in Troy, 2 in
Cleveland, and 1 each in Rochester, Chicago, Quincy, Louis-
ville, Somerset, and Pittsburgh. The last named was estab-
lished as an " International Foundry," which meant that the
president and the treasurer of the international union were ex-
officio directors and shared authority with the directors chosen
by the stockholders.
But the results of the Troy experiment, typical of the others,
show how far productive co-operation was from a successful
solution of the labour problem. At the end of the third year
of this enterprise, the American Workman ^^ published a sym-
pathetic account of its progress, disclosing unconsciously, how-
ever, its fatal weakness. The ^^ Troy Co-operative Iron-Found-
ers' Association " was planned with great deliberation and
launched at a time when the regular stove manufacturers were
embarrassed by the strikes. It was regularly incorporated with
a provision that each member was entitled to but one vote
whether he held one share or the maximum of fifty. Yet it
failed, as did the others, in furnishing permanent relief to the
workers as a class. On the contrary, the co-operators quickly
adopted the capitalist view. The sympathetic account men-
tioned above quotes from these co-operators to show that " the
fewer the stockholders in the company, the greater its success."
That these capitalistic co-operators were less eager for leisure
to improve body and mind than they had been as trade union-
ists, is apparent from the statement that " the holidays do not
interfere to keep them idle at the whim of the ironmaster who
chooses to close up his foundry on such days." The foundry
had recently made 1,100 stoves on contract at a low price for
a local stove manufacturer. When delivered ahead of contract
time, the purchaser expressed astonishment not only at the
promptitude with which the order had been filled, but its
cheapness. Totally disregarding the effect on moulders em-
ployed by competing manufacturers, the co-operators quoted
15 Sylvis, Life, Speeches, Lahore and Esaaya, 265.
16 Jan. 8, 1870.
RECOVERY 65
with satisfaction the statement of this manufacturer, who said :
" I wish you would let my patterns stay at your place. ... I
can buy my stoves of you and do better than if I manufactured
them myself." Membership in the moulders' union was still
maintained by these cooperationists, " but," they said, " the
trade-unions here are of no use now, really."
But trade union action did not remain hopeless. The co-
hesive qualities of the employers were after all inferior to those
of the workingmen. The scramble for the ever-widening
market, generating as it did the keenest kind of competition
among the manufacturers, could not help but weaken the bands
which held them together as employers in opposition to a com-
mon enemy — the moulders' union. As soon as it was apparent
that there was no longer any great danger froni the union,
individual and sectional interests began to assert themselves.
The very strike in Albany and Troy in 1866 had demon-
strated the lack of unity in the employers' association. The
western founders saw early in the strike that it -would be to
their advantage to withdraw from the association and reach
some adjustment with their workingmen. Stoppage of work
in the East to some extent removed competition from that di-
rection in the West and the manufacturers there lost no time
in taking advantage of the troubles. Meanwhile, business con-
ditions became better, prices went up, and the founders' prime
interest now became the market rather than labour. This seems
to have removed for a time the need of an association, and we
do not hear of a national stove manufacturers' and iron
founders' association after that time until about 1872, when
it reorganised as a price-fixing organisation, and without the
features of an employers' association.
The return to prosperity in 1869, the disappearance of em-
ployers' organisations and last but not least the failure of co-
operation as a panacea turned the moulders' union again into
the groove of trade unionism. The negative attitude towards
strikes disappeared. The president at the convention of 1872
reported that nine authorised strikes had occurred during the
past two years, and went on to say that unauthorised strikes
are beneficial in many cases and should not be interfered with.
At the biennial convention in July, 1870, the International
56 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Holders' Union changed policies. The " International " co-
operative foundry, Sylvis' pet child, had gone to pieces, and
the tide turned against co-operative ventures in general. The
WorJcingmans Advocate reported : " The legislation of the
moulders in this session undoes much that was considered good
under the administration of the lamented Sylvis," ^'^ and fur-
ther that " Baffin — a thorough trades-unionist,'' formerly re-
cording secretary under Sylvis, v^as chosen president.
During the three following years the moulders, while fully
sharing in the prosperity, lost their place as the paramount
national trade union, and came to be overshadowed by others,
especially the Crispins.
THE MACHINISTS AND BLACKSMITHS
If the moulders were the highest expression of practical mili-
tancy in the movement of the period, the machinists occupied
in it the place of idealists and theorists. Beginning with the
upward swing during the early sixties and ending with the
melancholy years of the late seventies when the rising star of
the Knights of Labor was the only cheerful appearance on
the labour horizon, it was always a machinist who pointed the
way for the general labour movement. Fincher, the versatile
labour journalist, Ira Steward, the eight-hour idealist, and
Powderly, the exponent of the ideas of the American mechan-
ics of the sixties during a later and more confused period, mark
the theoretical ascendency of the machinists. With the best
minds in the trade devoting themselves to the general move-
ment of labour reform, it is not surprising that the machinists'
imion, for a long time, lagged behind others in the everyday
practical struggle for betterment in the trade.
During the War the machinists were the beneficiaries of the
universal prosperity like any other trade. A true index of
the success of the activity of the machinists' national union may
be found in the activities of the employers' associations in the
trade.
A secret circular ^^ issued by the " Association of Engi-
neers of New York " includes a preamble and resolution adopted
17 July 23, 1870. 18 Quoted in Fincher'a, Dec. 5, 1868.
MACHINISTS AND BLACKSMITHS 57
at their regular raonthlj meeting held November 27, 1863.
In this preamble they announced that they were ^^ opposed to
every combination which has for its object the regulation of
wages," and that they resolved to refuse to raise the wages of
machinists for thirty days. In a separate resolution they let
it be known that " for the next ninety days, the proprietors of
each establishment represented in this Association refuse to
employ any machinists other than those now employed in their
respective establishments excepting any one who shall bring a
recommendation or statement from his present employer that
he has been honourably discharged." The only machinists ex-
empted from this blacklist were recent immigrants. The spe-
cial cause of the whole announcement was a demand for higher
wages on the part of the "New York machinists, who were or-
ganised under the name, " Finishers' Protective Union." Rep-
resentatives of nineteen New York firms signed the circular,
and the secretary, W. A. Searer, was ordered to print 250 copies
for the use of the members of the Association.
These resolutions were likewise adopted by the iron manu-
facturers of Boston and vicinity, as their " future rule of ac-
tion," and were signed by the representatives of twenty-two
Boston firms. -^^ February 15, 1864, the international secre-
tary of the Machinists and Blacksmiths Union issued a procla-
mation ^^ to the membership throughout the continent of North
America, calling upon them to be in readiness to act with their
brother workmen in New England, where the employers had
adopted measures to keep down wages. " The employer will
not hire an applicant," said this official, "unless he can pro-
duce a recommendation from his last employer stating that the
latter is content to allow him to leave his employ. And further
the recommendation must state the wages the applicant has
been receiving, — also what his general character is."
During the years of depression after the end of the War the
machinists' national organisation suffered a much greater set-
back than the moulders' or even some of the national unions of
more recent origin. The demand for a universal eight-hour
law then suddenly came to the forefront in the general labour
19 Reprinted entire fifteen months later in the Boston Daily Evening Voice, Mar.
11, 1865.
20 Fincher't, Feb. 20, 1864.
58 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
movement and, since the leading machinists were the original
spokesmen of that movement, the activities of the union in the
purely economic field were allowed to decline. It was, there-
fore, not until the return of prosperity that the machinists'
national union, now under different leaders, took on new vigour.
In 1872 the American Workman reported that " the Machinists
and Blacksmiths' National Union has had a year of great pros-
perity. Something less than a hundred new unions have been
established, thus trebling the membership in twelve months,
while the trade journal has 2,500 subscribers and a surplus of
$8,000 has accumulated in the treasury." ^^
THE PRINTERS
The extension of the market for their product brought into
existence the iron moulders' union. The extension of the mar-
ket, not for what labour produced but for what it sold, namely,
labour, brought into existence the National Typographical
Union. The typographical union appeared as early as 1850.
The desire to prevent the movement of printers from one lo-
cality to another brought about an elaborate system of " con-
ditional membership." At the convention of 1864 President
Carver presented a scheme which met the approval of the
delegates.
A conditional membership card was prepared, the holder of
which did not belong to a union, but it entitled him to the
membership and good offices of all the unions under the juris-
diction of the National Typographical Union. On the other
hand he had solemnly to pledge his honour to ^^ maintain and
enlarge the union influence which exists in this country and
by similar efforts to influence fellow craftsmen to avail them-
selves of the privilege of membership," and also, " not to re-
spond to any advertisement for printers from a locality where
there is a union without having first ascertained . . . that such
response would not be incompatible with the interests of the
craft." Such a card could be obtained by the payment of one
dollar. It entitled the bearer to the privileges above mentioned
21 Jan. 6, 1877.
THE PEINTERS 59
for one year, when it could be renewed upon payment of an-
other dollar and so on for each succeeding year.
For the purpose of bringing the scheme into operation the
country was divided into seven districts: New York, 'New
England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee,
and California. Each local union was required to amend its
constitution so as to levy upon each member a ten-cent monthly
tax which should constitute a " conditional membership fund."
The union in each district which had the largest number of
members in good standing was to elect a " district canvasser,"
whose duty it was to supervise his territory. ^^
At the session of 1865 it was reported that only five unions
applied for certificates of conditional membership. It was
thought that, because the power to do the active work was dele-
gated to the largest local within the district, others failed to
do their duty. The act was therefore amended so that each
local was constituted a district whose jurisdiction extended to
one-half the distance between it and the next union. But that
did not bring better results. In the conventions of 1866 and
1867 no material progress was reported. In 1868 the con-
ditional membership was not even mentioned and no trace of
it is found thereafter.
The prevalence of a localist tendency among the printers is
further illustrated by the vicissitudes of the proposal for a
national strike fund. The typographical was the only large
union which failed to create such a fund. It had been urged
for many years and in the convention of 1866 the secretary-
treasurer in his annual report said, " It is just now, more than
ever before, the great desideratum. . . . Others have already
tried it successfully, why cannot we establish the same object.
. . . The various subordinate unions are the treasurers of their
own contributions . . . collected in the same manner as the
regular dues, and reserved for the specific object. . . ." ^^ A
resolution was adopted at this convention that the delegates upon
returning home should lay this matter before their respective
locals and report the result to the national president who in
22 National Typographical Union, Pro- 23 National Typographical Union, Pro-
ceedings, 1864, p, 81. ceedings, 1866.
i
60 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
turn should report tlie action taken at the next annual conven-
tion.
The result of the vote reported showed all unions voting
in favour of it with the exception of Cincinnati and of Phila-
delphia. The latter gave no specific reasons. Cincinnati ar-
gued that to make the fund valuable it would have to be very
large and, since the union was not incorporated, no legal respon-
sibility would attach to the treasurer for money placed in his
hands; that it would be necessary to clothe the dispenser of
the fund with power to pass on the legality of strikes before
rendering assistance; that vesting power in a central head
would be detrimental to the interests of those engaged in a
strike on account of the time that would elapse before the
central could be heard from. Cincinnati was powerful enough
to swing the convention her way and the question was laid over
to the next session, which was to adopt or reject it by a vote of
delegates.
The convention of 1868 met and the proposition with other
matters was referred to a committee. It received a favour-
able report. The objection now raised by the opposition was
that it was not introduced in the manner provided by the con-
stitution. It was then placed before the committee of the
whole which reported that it be spread on the minutes for con-
sideration at the next session. This was the regular constitu-
tional procedure for all amendments — that they lie over for
one year.
At the 1869 convention the committee in charge failed to
report it back, and in 1870 it reported favourably upon it but
added that the time was not sufficient to discuss it and recom-
mended that it lay over to the next meeting. In 1871 a motion
was adopted that such a fund was inexpedient.
This persistent localism of the printers is especially interest-
ing in view of the several attempts towards a more or less widely
extended employers' association.
In May, 1864, a union printer from Albany, New York,
declared that " a powerful organisation exists among the
newspaper publishers of this and Western States, having for
one of its objects the extinction of Typographical Unions.
The simultaneous introduction of female compositors at various
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS 61
points, shows the line of policy adopted.'' ^* Another instance
of this more or less well-founded suspicion appears in the re-
port of the convention proceedings of the International Indus-
trial Assembly which met at Louisville, Kentucky, in Septem-
ber, 1864. A lockout of the union printers of the Chicago
Times was under discussion. The Chicago representatives of
organised labour believed the lockout was for the purpose of
breaking up the Chicago Typographical Union. The conven-
tion went further and said : " There is good reason to believe
that this effort is the result of a combination of capitalists
known as the Northwestern Publishers' Association, to break
up the Typographical Unions of the country, and control their
employes to such an extent as to dictate to them the prices
and conditions of labor." ^^ That this opinion was not with-
out some foundation is evidenced by the report of the Cincin-
nati Convention of the Western Associated Press which met in
May, 1864. This meeting was composed of representatives
from thirteen leading establishments in Cincinnati, St. Louis,
Detroit, Louisville, Dayton, Indianapolis, and Wheeling, while
Chicago publishers pledged acquiescence. Resolutions adopted
by this convention suggested a degree of organisation among
the employers somewhat similar to that already described in
the case of the stove foundrymen.^^ But it is probable that
these early publishers' associations dealt only incidentally with
labour questions, and they are not to be compared with the
more modem Newspaper Publishers' Association or with the
Typothetffi.2^
THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS
If most of the national trade unions sprang into existence
only indirectly as a result of railway consolidation, the national
union of locomotive engineers was its direct outgrowth. When
a small road was merged wdth a larger one the engineers and
shopmen had to come under the system of pay and work of the
latter road. The men who suffered from the change sought by
combination to control the larger employer under whom they
ZiFincher's, May 21, 1864. 27 See above, I, 451 et seq. The prob-
25 Fincher's, Oct. 15, 1864. lem of apprenticeship in the printing
26 The Printer, July. 1864. trade will be treated later.
Fincher's, June 4, 1864.
62 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
were now to work. " Since the consolidation the N'orthwestem
Company has been the worst managed corporation of its size in
the country. ... At the very outset of the consolidation the
salaries of the officials and hangers-on were increased and the
wages of the poor labourers and others were correspondingly
lowered. . . ." ^^
The special grievance of the engineers was that during the
sixties the railroads, for the first time, tried to force piece work
upon them. Prior to this period each engineer was paid ac-
cording to the time he put in. N^ow the railroad proposed to
pay him according to the run he made, no matter how much
time it took him to make it. When we remember the delays
incident to travelling on railroads in the sixties, the new sys-
tem was a just cause for complaint. It meant a reduction of
pay considering the time. At the convention of May, 1863,
held in Detroit, where the Brotherhood of the Footboard was
organised, which a year later became the Brotherhood of Loco-
motive Engineers, it was declared that the delegates met and
organised because of " the disposition of the superintendent of
motive power on that Road [Michigan Central] to wage a re-
morseless war upon the best interests of labour, and especially
his encroachment upon the established rights and usages of
the engineers in his employ and the reduction in their
pay. . ^ ." 29
This was in 1863 ; by 1865 we find that the movement to in-
troduce the run or piece system became quite general. A cor-
respondent of Fincher's in October of that year writes the fol-
lowing:
" Noticing an article in your issue signed by ^ An Engineer of
the Eastern Division of the Erie Railway/ setting forth the dissatis-
faction existing on that Division among the Engineers, I thought
I would drop you a few lines concerning the Engineers of the Sus-
quehanna division ; and, as we are fully as bad off concerning pay
and allowances as they are, it will be at least consoling to the Engi-
neers of that division to know it, and to know that they are not
going into any battle of right without a fair prospect of receiving
re-enforcement. Engineers on this Division, previous to the advent
of the present management, were paid for the time they were run-
28 Chicago Workinffman's Advocate, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers,
Mar. 28, 1865, Proceedings, 1864, 5.
29 Grand International Division of the
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS 63
ning on the road over schedule hours; but as soon as the new dis-
ciples ^" took hold of the reins they said at once a stop must be put
to this . . . and from that time we have ceased to receive pay for
extra hours on the road, and, as a consequence, the Engineer's time
is figured right down to a day and a half for running the Division
(140 miles), whether it is done one day, or three days and nights/' ^^
The " Brotherhood " soon found that the railways were reso-
lute in their attitude even to the extent of co-operating with
other railways. This came to light in 1864 after a strike by
engineers against the Galena and Chicago Union Kail Koad
Company when the management of that road publicly expressed
its thanks to other roads for co-operation in resisting the union.
In spite of all its grievances, the Brotherhood of Locomo-
tive Engineers was a militant organisation for just one year
from August lY, 1863, when it was organised, to August 17,
1864, when enough changes were made in its structure to make
it an entirely new organisation. W. D. Robinson, the enthus-
iast who had placed his entire soul and energy at the service
of the organisation, was dismissed as grand chief engineer on
personal charges preferred by his enemies. The new head was
Charles Wilson, an engineer on the ISTew York Central & Hud-
son River Railway. This corporation had been for some years
in favour of a conservative organisation among its engineers.
To emphasise the complete breach with the past, the name
was changed from the Brotherhood of the Footboard to the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The policy of the
union now was to win the good graces of the employers through
elevating the character of its members and thus raising their
efficiency as workmen. The employer would be so well pleased
with their work that he would of his own free will provide
better recognition of labour and higher pay. But in case that
should not follow, they would, at the same time, turn their at-
tention to public opinion which they hoped to enlist in case of
difficulties.
The reason for the desire to enlist public opinion may be
ascribed to the fact that the service of engineers directly af-
fects the public. The ordinary passenger who is in great haste
30 This refers to a new superintendent put on that division, Aschcroft's Railway
Directory, 1865, 55; 1866, 52.
81 Fincher'a, Oct. 28, 1865.
6i HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
to get to his destination, finding his train stopped, puts the
blame on the immediate cause — the engineer who refuses to
run it. An unsigned article in Finclier's for July 17, 1865,
says :
" To possess the mere power to suspend the operation of a road,
is not sufficient. That, without the clearest evidence of the justice
of the stoppage, begets towards the organisation the hostility of the
travelling public, the stockholders and the public at large; for we
are apt to judge harshly if any class of men who, although strug-
gling for their rights, in the least encroach on the comforts or con-
veniences; and the traveller, finding a road over which he must
travel not in operation on account of a disagreement between the
officers and employes, very naturally takes sides with the arbitrary
power, from the fact that he feels within himself a disposition to
compel somebody to carry him on his journey. And who is more
likely to be the recipient of his ill wishes than the man who should
run the engine, but who declines doing so, on account of a disagree-
ment between himself and the officers of the road? . . . The most
essential point here is to be made in convincing the victim that the
fault lies with officers. . . ."
In the following year the Brotherhood was given an oppor-
tunity to state definitely its position. On January 17, 1866,
the engineers and firemen entered upon a strike against the
introduction of a new system of work and pay on the Michigan
Southern & Northern Indiana Railway. The strike was a pro-
tracted one. The railroad was not very much affected. It
hired new men and blacklisted the old ones.^^
The blacklist, however, aroused a good many locals to ac-
tion, especially those which were affected by the introduction
of similar systems in the previous year. A special convention
of the Brotherhood was called to discuss the difficulty. Fifty-
seven delegates convened June 12, 1866, at Rochester, New
York, and, of their number, twenty-six w^ere appointed a com-
mittee to consider the blacklist. But it was Wilson's commit-
tee, and as a result of its deliberations, it drew up the following
appeal to the railroads of the United States, which the conven-
tion endorsed:
". . . do you think it right to have these men proscribed by the
different Railroad officials because they are in difficulty with one
82 Fincher'B, Feb. 3, 1866.
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS 65
Company. . . . There seems to be a determination not only to pur-
sue these men to the bitter end, but to break up an organisation that
they happen to belong to, but which had no more to do with this
trouble in the commencement than the most distant thing imag-
inable. To this we wish to enter our united protest, and appeal to
you for help to avert so terrible a calamity as must ensue in the
attempt to break up or destroy our organisation. We cannot believe
you will consent to any such conspiracy . . . if you fully under-
stand our object and future intentions. We have reliable informa-
tion that lists of names of all the men in any way connected with
this strike are in the possession of most of the Railroad Companies
throughout the country and that some of the officials have given
out word that not one of these men can get a job on their Road. . . .
We do not wish to be understood as claiming the right to dictate
who shall be hired by any Company. ... If the Michigan Southern
Railroad Company thinks it to their advantage to employ such men
[scabs] to run their engines as they have employed since the strike,
then we are forced to admit they have the right to employ them.
. . . We appeal to you as men who profess to be willing to do right
to use your influence to harmonise this difficulty, and to prevent the
unwarranted interference of any outside parties." ^*
At this convention also they approved and incorporated in
their proceedings a letter sent to them by the superintendent of
motive power on the Erie Railway which in part is as follows :
" The ostensible object of your organisation, I understand, is
to advance the morale social, and intellectual condition of the
Locomotive Engineers, and to thereby elevate their standard of
character as a profession. . . . Any attempt on the part of
your members of your organisation to place your body in an-
tagonism to your employers . . . should be promptly and im-
mediately checked, and such evil disposed persons cured of
their error, or summarily expelled from your delibera-
tions. . . ."34 1
Many events occurred during the following four years that
testify to the conservatism of the Brotherhood. At the con-
vention of 1867, Wilson thanked the public press, the railroad
officials, the clergy for recognition of his organisation as a
factor of moral uplift and went on to say that to his mind the
success of the Brotherhood depended upon a basis different than
S3 Grand International Division of the Proceedings, Special Session, Rochester,
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, June, 1866, 9, 10.
S4:Ibid., 18.
m HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN" THE UNITED STATES
that of other labour organisations. The success of the plans
of the trade union might be carried by virtue of the force of
numbers without any regard to the character or ability of their
members, but that could not be true of the Brotherhood. Its
foundation as an organisation rested upon the character and
ability of the members.^^
At the convention of 1868 the question of endorsing a strike
entered into by the St. Louis division came up. Wilson urged
that if the national body endorsed it, it would be held respon-
sible for it and advised that the best plan would be to let the
local division fight it out for itself. ^^ The following year he
went on a trip south to organise branches. On reaching J^ew
Orleans, he found the railroad officials opposed to such an or-
ganisation. He left after advising the engineers that they
should not organise until the prejudice had been removed. At
the convention of 1870, he again took occasion in his annual
address to declare the unity of interest between employer and
employe.
Many objections to this policy were registered during these
years by local branches which felt aggrieved over the treatment
they received at the hands of railroad officials. This was espe-
cially true among the western subdivisions which were continu-
ally in financial trouble through strikes. To prevent this, at
the session of 1871 held at Toronto, Wilson aimed to clamp
the organisation so as to make local action impossible. The
movement for incorporation was strong among most of the
national unions and Wilson saw in incorporation a possibility
of carrying his policy to a conclusion. He took the American
Railroad Association into confidence and drew up articles of
incorporation which contained the following clause : " Be it
further enacted, That any Sub-Division organised under this
act, . . . who shall, by advice or counsel, induce any Engineer,
or Engineers, to interfere, by a strike with the transportation
of the mails or other Government property, or who shall refuse
to expel any of their members who shall so interfere shall for-
feit their Charter, and all the rights and interests they may
35 Grand International Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, .
Minutes, October, 1867, 11.
se Ibid., October, 1868, 8.
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS 67
have in any common fund of this Brotherhood that may be
accumulated at that time." ^'^
The convention adopted the measure bodily, but v^hen it
was introduced in Congress there still existed enough opposi-
tion against legalisation of labour organisations to defeat it.
The proposal of such a measure had its effect, however. It
called forth a great deal of condemnation from the other large
unions. Many of them saw in it *' enslavement " of the Broth-
erhood, and Wilson came in for his just share of reproach.
This, no doubt, started the opposition to him which cul-
minated in 1874 by his removal from office. It might have
occurred before that time, but the country just then had en-
tered upon a period of prosperity shared by the railroads,
which lasted to the middle of 1873. The panic changed mat-
ters. In i»[ovember, 1873, the engineers declared that railroads
had combined to force a reduction of w^ages on account of a
decrease in business. They did not believe the reason given
as true and took steps to resist a reduction on the principal
roads. The Pennsylvania Koad was the chief offender. It or-
dered a reduction of pay within a day's notice in spite of the
fact that it had an agreement to pay a certain price. The engi-
neers resented the action and, the railroad failing to restore
the wages, they struck. Wilson denounced them through the
public press for their hasty action. This so enraged the Broth-
erhood that it called a special meeting at Cleveland, February
26, 1874, and forced him to resign.^*
At this session William D. Robinson was present and saw
the removal of his rival from office by an almost unanimous
vote. Robinson had been reinstated in his old local in May,
1873, and, by urgent request of the Brotherhood, attended this
national meeting. He sat silent throughout the proceedings.
After the election of the new grand chief engineer, P. M. Ar-
thur, he was called upon to address the convention, which he
did in a dramatic speech that called forth cheers of vindication
though he did not once mention the name of Wilson.^ ^
P. M. Arthur, though elected as an insurgent against Wil-
son's pacifism, soon adopted the very same policies which he
37 Engineers' Journal, V, 506. 39 Chicago Workmgman'$ Advocate,
38 McNeUl, Labor Movement: The Prob- May 2, 1874.
Urn of To-day, 322.
68 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
had condemned in his predecessor. The excellent strategic
position of the engineer in the railroad industry forced the
employers to grant him and his organisations a degree of recog-
nition which in those days was almost unthinkable in other
trades. Arthur thus found that more could be accomplished
through peaceful pressure than through strikes. In his hands
conservatism was made the permanent and distinctive character-
istic of the Brotherhood, a policy which was deliberately broken
on only one occasion, the strike against the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy road in 1888.
A distinctive feature of Wilson's policy had been the early
development of a benefit system. The chief incentive was the
extremely hazardous nature of the work of the engineer which
made insurance in private companies prohibitively high if not
altogether impossible. As early as 1866 at its regular con-
vention in Boston, the Brotherhood adopted the widows',
orphans', and disabled members' fund.^*^ This measure was
referred to a vote of the subdivisions where it received a two-
thirds majority vote and was adopted.^ ^
About the same time (1867) the Locomotive Mutual Life
Insurance Association was created. None but members of the
Brotherhood could join it, and membership was optional.
Those who joined paid a small initiation fee and assessments
upon the death of members. The total insurance derived by
beneficiaries depended upon the numerical strength of the as-
sociation and upon the rate of assessment. As the membership
increased, the assessment was lowered. During two years of the
existence of this scheme, 1867-1869, the smallest amount paid
upon the death of a member was $1,110, the largest was $1,856,
at a cost of from $20 to $30 per year, which was considered
good insurance. ^^ It was not however until the decade of the
nineties that the insurance feature of the Brotherhood became
established on a firm and broad basis.
THE CIGAR MAKERS
The history of the cigar makers during this period may be
summarised as the history of organisation against large shops
^0 Proceedings, 1866, 23. 41 Ibid., 1867, 17. 42 Engineers' Journal, III, 505,
THE CIGAR MAKEES 69
in the sixties and against the introduction of the *' mould " and
division of labour in the seventies.
Prior to the War the cigar trade was in the one-man shop
stage. The master mechanic worked for himself, owned the
tobacco, made the cigars, and sold them to customers in the
community in which he worked. He was the ordinary work-
man with small means. He could buy tobacco in small quanti-
ties as he needed it. He needed practically no tools and worked
in or about the place in which he lived. With the Civil War
came a change. Congress introduced a system of taxation
which favoured large manufactories. This at once took the
control of the trade out of the workman's hands and placed
it in the hands of an employer.^ ^ With the rapidly chang-
ing condition in the sixties it took only a few years for the
larger shop to replace the little ones and to gather in the small
masters to work for wages. In the East, instead of going into
large factories, the trade passed into contractors' sweatshops.
The cigar maker who had worked in his house for himself be-
fore the sixties now worked for some one else.
At the first national convention held in I^ew York City, June
21, 1864, out of 21 locals represented, 12 were from the State of
'New York.*^ At this convention a strict trade union policy was
adopted indicative of the cigar makers throughout their history.
After resolving that they united themselves for better protection
of their trade and requesting that all cigar makers organise
themselves, they " resolved that no cigar maker coming from
any city, county or district, who is not a member of a union,
if any exists from whence he came, be allowed to become a
member of the union where he has come to obtain employment
or be allowed to work in said city, county or district, until he
has been admitted a member in the place from which he came."
The resolution went further " to discountenance the practice of
any union allowing any of its members to work in a shop or
manufactory that employs no union [sic] men working for
them out of the shop or manufactory." *^ The latter part of
the resolution shows the prominence of the New Yorkers and
their hostility to the sweatshop.
43 Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics, 44 From typewritten record at Johns
First Annual Report, Columbus, Ohio, Hopkins University Library, 1864-1867.
1878, 199-201. 45 Ibid.
70 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The national once organised grew rapidly, although it
only gained 5 locals during the first year, June, 1864, to Sep-
tember, 1865. It gained 37 locals during the following year.
At the convention of 1860 held at Baltimore, 49 delegates were
present, representing Canada and distant points as far south
as Maysville, Kentucky, and as far west as Leavenworth, Kan-
sas. The strike-benefit feature, which has always been an im-
portant pillar in the structure of the cigar makers' organisa-
tion, appears here in its elementary form. Locals in case of
difiiculty could appeal to the national president who then sent
out a notice for contributions. The returns were forwarded to
the strikers.
At the Buffalo session in the following year, the organisa-
tion was more thoroughly developed. The name was changed
from National Union of Cigar Makers to Journeymen Cigar
Makers' International Union, so as to include the Canadian lo-
cals. Strike benefits were definitely prescribed. If a local
entered into a strike with approval of the international presi-
dent, the members were to receive $8 per week if married and
$5 if single, out of a fund created by a tax upon the member-
ship of the entire union.*®
During 1868 and 1869 the union continued to grow, report-
ing 84 locals in the former year and 87 in the latter. The
problem which agitated it during these years was the Kingston
conspiracy case. A member of the Kingston local. New York,
was designated by the other members as a " rat " and denied
the privileges of the union. He brought suit against the indi-
vidual members as conspirators and the circuit court fined each
member $20. The International pledged the last cent in the
treasury of its local unions, if necessary, to sustain the Kingston
union which appealed the case to the State Supreme Court.
At the convention of 1869 it was reported that the case was to
be tried in the latter part of September. Nothing further is
heard of it, however. It may have been dropped. Consid-
erable feeling against conspiracy laws had grown up in the
country by this time, as is evidenced by the number of state
legislatures that were considering bills to repeal the laws in
46 Ibid.
THE CIGAR MAKERS 71
so far as they affected labour. New York repealed its law,
March 24, 1870.^^
Thus far in its history the national met with few obstacles.
The advent of the large shop, while it diminished the bar-
gaining power of the cigar makers, did not affect the trade
itself and the workman was still protected by his skill. A
large organisation with a considerable strike fund was very
effective in counteracting the large employer. In the five years
of its existence the cigar makers' national grew to about 5,000
members, which compares favourably with other nationals at
this time (1869).
But in 1867 the mould was invented, which undermined the
trade itself. Before the introduction of the mould each cigar
maker made the whole cigar. He was the *' bunch breaker "
or, as he was then known, the " filler breaker " and also the
" roller." He made the bunch and rolled it himself. He had
to mould it in his own hands and roll it immediately. That
method was changed for most cigars as soon as the mould was
introduced. The mould, however, was not a machine, but a
mere press for shaping cigars by hand.
The effect of this change was threefold. It split up the
trade. Instead of one man making the whole cigar, one man
now made the bunches and another rolled them. It was easier
to make a bunch when the mould shaped it than it was when
it had to be shaped by hand, and i|; was also easier to roll it
after it was smoothed off. This quickened the process. There
was no time lost in changing from bunch making to rolling and
vice versa. !
The moulds, apparently, were first introduced in the Cincin-
nati shops. In October, 1869, the cigar makers of that city
asked for an increase of $1 per 1,000. The employers as-
sented to the demand, but immediately after Christmas an-
nounced a reduction of $2 per 1,000. This started one of the
most bitter strikes in the history of the union. Three hun-
dred men were involved. The executive committee of the Inter-
national called in the strike funds from the locals and in Febru-
ary levied an extra fifty-cent tax upon each member. The
47 Chicago Workingman's Advocate, Apr, 2, 1870,
72 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
employers were likewise busy in the struggle. They sent out
circulars to employers in other cities, requesting them not to
employ Cincinnati men and above all not to pay more than their
prices.*^
The strike lasted eighteen weeks, finally concluding with a
victory for the cigar makers. But the victory soon turned into
failure. At the end of the strike the employers introduced the
mould, and the union, foreseeing a reduction in wages and fear-
ing another struggle, voluntarily reduced the price it had thus
secured after a long fight.
A succinct statement of the reasons why the cigar makers
objected to the use of the mould is given in the Report of the
Bureau of Labour Statistics of Ohio (1878) :
"In 1870 a cigar machine [the mould] was introduced into the
town of Cincinnati. The men claimed that it did not save labour
but instead added thereto. One firm purchased fifty of the ma-
chines and their employees refused to use them and the result was
that men were discharged to the number of seventy-five and girls
and boys were hired in their places, and this was the commencement
of the female cigar workers in Cincinnati. A cigar machine com-
pany then came into operation having men, at first, but as there
was no extra profit in their labour they were discharged and women
and girls were brought to make cigars, they in turn being discharged
for other learners receiving but little if any wages. By this means
a so-called large number of female cigar makers were competing
with the men for the privilege of work. Wages rapidly fell imtil
a week's wages were not sufficient to pay the board of a single
man. . . ."
In October the cigar makers held their convention at Syra-
cuse. It was the largest convention since 1867. The mould
question was settled by adopting a constitutional amendment
stating that " no local union shall allow its members to work
with a filler breaker." *® The provision was more far reach-
ing than it really seems. It meant that the national took a
stand against splitting up the trade between bunch breakers
and rollers. It also really meant a stand against the introduc-
tion of the mould which invariably was worked by filler break-
48 Chicago Workingman'e Advocate, Chicago Workingman'e Advocate, Nov. 6
Feb, 5, 1870. and 12, 1870.
49 Constitution, 1870, Art. XI, Sec. 4;
THE CIGAR MAKERS 73
ers. Legislating against the filler breaker thus meant legislat-
ing against the mould.
But the union was too weak to enforce its rules everywhere.
Many locals permitted their members to work with " filler
breakers " in spite of the law and grew lukewarm towards the
International. At the convention of 1870, 42 locals were rep-
resented; 2 years later only 17 sent delegates. At this latter
convention of 1872 the president, Edwin Johnson, in his an-
nual address foretold the inevitable. " I admit it is a great
evil to the trade this filler breaking system, but a minority can
never accomplish anything in the way of breaking up this
way of working. While we have the large majority outside of
our organisation, working directly in the opposite all the time,
I can see but one way of accomplishing anything that will be
beneficial to our trade generally . . . Let us lay aside a little
of our spirit of selfishness, make our laws liberal, and our plat-
form broad enough to hold all, and let us endeavour to unite
the whole into one grand organisation." ^^
In spite of this advice when the question of the filler breaker
rule came up for consideration, whether it should be retained
or dropped, the sentiment was strongly in favour of retain-
ing it. What is more, the rule was amended so that it became
more restrictive than before. As amended, it read : " ITo
local union shall allow its members to work with filler breakers
or non-union men." " Or non-union men " was added now
and the whole adopted, thirteen votes in favour and four
against. The strike fund was also increased. Instead of 2
cents per member, each month, 10 cents were to be levied there-
after.
These measures were of no avail. The mould came to stay.
The hostility towards it was continued for another year, when at
the convention of 1873, with other changes in the constitution, the
filler breaker clause was amended so as to read, " Local unions
may allow their members to work in shops where filler-breakers
are employed, provided that no member of the union has per-
mitted himself to work in conjunction with filler breakers."
The constitution as revised and including this clause was sub-
so Chicago Workmgman's Advocate, Oct. 1, 1872.
74 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
mitted to a vote of the locals and was returned 60 in favour
and 17 opposed.
The adoption of this amendment was a virtual acceptance of
the mould. Although the union man could not work in con-
junction with a filler breaker, the mould was admitted into
tli^ shop and once there it gradually replaced hand work for
the great buik of cigars made.
THE COOPERS
Another cause which brought large nationals into existence,
especially in the latter part of the ten-year period, was the in-
troduction of machinery. The unions that sprang up as a
direct result of the change in the methods of manufacture were
particularly the Knights of St. Crispin and the coopers.
The effects of machinery on the coopers' trade may be seen
from the following extract taken from the Coopers' Monthly
Jounwl, October, 1872, in a series of articles entitled " What I
know about Machinery." " Whenever our craftsman demanded
an increase of wages and it was refused, some employers would
buy barrel machinery because they would not strike." The
article then goes on to give an account of a cooperage works in
St. Louis. '^ Some two years ago a company was started in
St. Louis under the name of the St. Louis Barrel Works for
the manufacture of pork barrels. The stockholders were men
of means and money was not sparingly used to furnish the
factory with all the modern improvements. The barrels were
raised by boys, clamped and trussed by machinery, the heads
were turned by machines and put into the barrels by boys, and
there was nothing left for the coopers to do but plane, shave up
and hoop the package. When a barrel was finished, it gen-
erally leaked at every joint. . . . But the staves were kiln dried
and by pouring from one to four pints of water in each barrel
... it could be made to pass. All this was very well and as
the company warranted every package they were not in want
of a market."
The effect of such a change in making barrels is obvious.
The cooper was now deprived of the protection afforded by his
skill. His part in the process now was trimming the barrel
THE COOPERS 75
instead of making it. The importance of a large, powerful
organisation to counteract the advantages which the employer
gained over him through these improvements is plainly to be
seen. On March 19, 1870, when the nation was about to start
on a three-year lap of prosperity, Martin A. Foran, then presi-
dent of the Central Union of Ohio, sent a call to the coopers
to meet in Cleveland, May, 1870. The Cleveland coopers had
just gone through a strike — that fact and the powerful per-
sonality of Foran account for the calling of a convention at
this time and place.^^ Suggestions for a national union had
been made as far back as the spring of 1868, when a corre-
spondent of the Advocate reported the coopers in New York on
a strike and expressed surprise that " with the number of
coopers in the United States . . . they do not take steps to
organise a national union." ^^
The international was organised and grew very rapidly.
The first convention met in May, 1870, with 13 delegates repre-
senting 1,576 members. Five months later another convention
was held in Baltimore. Here 41 unions were represented with
a membership of 3,350.^^ But circulars sent out by Foran to
locals which allied themselves with the national show returns
of 142 unions in good standing embracing a membership of
6,723. The next convention was held in 1873 after the panic.
Here 157 locals were reported in good standing. Seventy-two
unions were organised or reorganised during these 2 years, but
72 disbanded, which left the international just about where it
was in 1871.
In spite of its rocket-like career the coopers^ national union
permanently influenced the labour movement. It brought to
the front in the labour ranks its second president, Robert
51 The career of Martin A. Foran of as a member of the Ohio constitutional
Cleveland is a prominent example of an convention in 1873. During the next
American labour leader. Born in Susque- year he was admitted to the practice of
hanna County, Penn., Nov. 11, 1844, he law and in 1874 was elected, on the Demo-
received a public school education and cratic ticket, city attorney of Cleveland,
the beginnings of a higher education. He He was elected to Congress in 1884 and
was a cooper by trade, but he had also was several times re-elected. He never
taught school for three years. Having lost connection with the labour movement
achieved prominence in the labour move- and remained a champion of labour bills
ment, first as the president of the Coopers' throughout his congressional career.
International Union, which he organised, 52 Chicago Workingman's Advocate,
and later in 1872, as the foremost leader May 9, 1868.
in the movement for a federation of the 53 Coopers' International Union, Pro-
national trade unions, he entered politics ceedings, 1871, 10, 11.
76 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
Schilling, of Cleveland, and later of Milwaukee, who became
so impressed with the inadequacy of the existing basis of the
movement that, according to his own statement, he formulated
a new set of principles which in 1878 came to be adopted as
the Preamble of the Order of the Knights of Labor.
In still another respect the coopers anticipated during this
period the labour movement of the eighties. In 1870 a number
of unionised coopers in Minneapolis, after several attempts,
succeeded in organising a co-operative association for the mak-
ing of barrels. The example was soon followed by others and
there were altogether seven co-operative shops which manufac-
tured the bulk of the barrels demanded by the flour mills in
that city. When the Knights of Labour revived the co-opera-
tive movement during the middle of the eighties, they could
well keep in mind the siiccessful example of the Minneapolis
coopers.^^
THE KNIGHTS OF ST. CRISPIN
The shoemakers' organisations reached their greatest strength
in 1869 and 1870. During the preceding years machinery had
exercised but little influence on the labour movement, either in
this or in other occupations. As a rule skilled labour remained
the basis of industry, and although the mechanic suffered from
evils which were serious enough, no one questioned that he was
indispensable. However, there were three notable exceptions:
the textile, cooperage, and shoe industries. In the textile in-
dustry machine production had been introduced as early as the
thirties; the shoe industry entered upon the factory stage of
production in the sixties; and the cooperage in the early
seventies.
The first step toward a factory system in the shoe industry
came with the invention in 1846 and utilisation in 1852 of a
sewing machine for stitching uppers. But the invention des-
tined to revolutionise the industry occurred in 1862, when
McKay succeeded in perfecting a pegging machine. Between
1860 and 1870 the utilisation of these machines and of other
inventions proceeded at a rapid pace, and the skilled mechanic
54 See Shaw, " Co-operation in a Western City," in American Economic Association
Publications, I, 129-172.
i
THE KNIGHTS OF ST. CEISPIN 77
was being displaced by the unskilled in great proportions. The
situation in the shoe industry during the sixties is of special
interest, as it represented the first encounter on a large scale of
the skilled American mechanics with machine competition.^^
Indeed the shoemakers were called upon to meet the same sort
of a situation which thirty years later was settled satisfactorily
in the printing industry, when the latter was revolutionised by
the invention of the linotype. As is well known the printers
warded off the menace of " gTeen hands " by agreeing to accept
the linotype on the condition that it should be operated exclu-
sively by skilled workmen. The shoemakers of the sixties ad-
vanced the same solution but, instead of finding the employers
ready for a compromise, they were compelled to " fight it out.''
The " green hands " menace is the key to the understanding of
the meteoric career of the Order of the Knights of St. Crispin.
This union was organised as a secret order on March 7, 1867,
at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by ^N'ewell Daniels, formerly of Mil-
ford, Massachusetts, and six associates. It spread rapidly in
all shoemaking districts, especially Massachusetts. Eighty-
seven lodges were formed before the first meeting of the Inter-
national Grand Lodge at Rochester, ISTew York, July, 1868;
204 before the second, at Boston, April, 1869 ; 327 before the
third, at Boston, April, 1872. The membership was estimated
at about 50,000 in 1870. The Order was then by far the
largest labour organisation in the country.
The Order of the Crispins differed in nature from other
unions. As said above, its object was not so much to advance
wages and to shorten hours as to protect the journeymen against
the competition of " green hands " and apprentices. The con-
stitution made resistance to green hands and the defence of the
Order the only purposes for which the strike funds of the In-
ternational Grand Lodge could be used. Wage conflicts and
trade agreements were to be treated as purely local matters.
The Crispins conducted strikes with varied success. They
were hampered by an inefiicient revenue system and by the
general looseness of their organisation, particularly by the lack
of central control over subordinate lodges. The strikes were
55 This was not the case in the textile man in the shop bnt with the work of the
industry, where on the whole, the ma- woman in the household,
chine competed not with the skilled work-
78 HISTOEY OF LABOUB TIST THE UNITED STATES
generally successful in 1869 and 1870. In Lynn, the Order
was even able to force the manufacturers to sign an agreement
governing wages for the twelve months following July 21, 1870,
and the agreement was renewed for another year. This success,
however, forced manufacturers in various localities to organise
and to attempt to break up the union. In 1869 such conflicts
occurred on a large scale in San Francisco and, in 1870, in
Philadelphia and Worcester. But the Order was able to hold
its own until the unsuccessful strike at Lynn, Massachusetts,
which lasted during the spring and a part of the summer of
1872. This strike occurred following the break-up of the trade
agreement when, as a result of cutthroat competition among
the manufacturers, wages were reduced. The Crispins lost and
were compelled to disband the hitherto powerful lodge at that
place. During 1872, 1873, and 1874 the manufacturers seldom
failed in their efforts to destroy the organisation.
Five principal causes of Crispin strikes may be distinguished :
resistance to green hands, defence of the Order, opposition to
wage reductions, refusal to work with non-Crispins, and at-
tempts to abolish contractors. The green-hands' strikes natur-
ally occurred primarily in the factories, but strikes in defence
of the Order were common both in the factories and in merchant
capitalist establishments. The Crispins embraced in one or-
ganisation shops selling in opposite kinds of markets and using
opposite systems of production : the " bespoke " shop as well
as the wholesale speculative shop and factory, the handicraft
custom-order shop and merchant-capitalist establishments, as
well as the machine-operated factory. Strikes against wage re-
ductions, though occurring in every type of manufacture, were
most marked in the merchant-capitalist shops. The latter were
in a difficult position. The factories, with their machinery
and green hands, were lowering wholesale prices. The custom
shops, with their individual markets, were keeping up wages.
The merchant-capitalists had to meet the price competition of
the factory and the quality competition of both the factory and
the custom shop. To compete with the one they had to reduce
labour costs, to compete with the other they had to employ
skilled workmen.
The Crispins, even during the period of their most sue-
THE KNIGHTS OF ST. CEISPIN 79
cessful strikes, did not turn away from co-operation altogether.
" The present demand of the Crispin is steady employment
and fair wages, but his future is self -employment," ^^ said
Samuel Cummings, grand scribe of the Order. The Crispin
was less confident of his power as a wage-earner than the brick-
layer or machinist. Even though winning the strikes, he knew
that he was losing the mechanics' safest bulwark against en-
croachment — his skill. This was indeed demonstrated by the
fact that the Order began to suffer defeat in 1872, when pros-
perity was at its height. Each Grand Lodge had a special com-
mittee on co-operation, and in 1870 this committee recom-
mended that the grievance funds be invested in co-operative
manufacture, under the supervision of the committee appointed
by the Grand Lodge from among the members of the local lodge.
The recommendation was not adopted, the Grand Lodge feeling
that it was not expedient to take the control of co-operation out
of the hands of the locals. But in 1869 and 1870 the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts made a vigorous effort to secure from
the legislature an act of incorporation for the purpose of con-
ducting co-operative stores for purchasing supplies. This was
their main object in entering politics in that State, and their
charter actually passed the lower house, but was rejected in the
senate. In 1870 the New York State Grand Lodge recom-
mended to its subordinate lodges co-operative workshops. These
co-operative shops became numerous after 1870, and there were
established also between thirty and forty co-operative stores,
which soon, however, went to pieces.
In 1875 an attempt was made to revive the Order. The
issue, however, was no longer " green hands," but arbitration.
The second Order of St. Crispin led an ansemic existence until
1878. The Crispins later furnished a number of active mem-
bers to the Knights of Labor. Charles H. Litchman, at one
time grand scribe of the Crispins, later became the head of the
District Assembly of Massachusetts and then general secretary
of the Knights of Labor. ^^
56 American Workman, June, 1869. Crispin, 1867-1874," University of Wis-
57 For the detailed historj' of the Oris- consin Bulletin, No. 355. See also Doe.
pins upon which the foregoing account is Hist., III. 51-54.
based, see Lescohier, " The Knights of St.
80 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
THE SONS OF VULCAN
The organisation of the iron puddlers, known as the " Sons
of Vulcan," came into existence in 1858. It styled itself a
national organisation but, as a matter of fact, its field was
restricted to the Pittsburgh district. Although it was only a
small organisation, it deserves attention altogether out of pro-
portion to its numerical strength, for it offers the first instance of
a trade union entering into a trade agreement wdth an em-
ployers' association based upon the sliding scale principle of
fixing wages. The puddlers enjoyed a bargaining advantage
with their employers which seldom fell to the lot of other wage-
earners. The basis of this advantage was the high skill re-
quired of a puddler, and, second, the extreme localisation of
the iron industry, which facilitated organisation. Accordingly,
the associated employers early came to recognise the necessity
of a permanent working agreement with the union, and the
trade agreement of February, 1865, was the result. This wage
agreement fixed the scale of prices to be paid for boiling pig
iron. But it lasted only a short time. The workmen soon
demanded higher pay. In 1867 another conference was held
and a new sliding scale was agreed upon. This second agree-
ment lasted seven years, until the industrial depression led the
employers to reduce wages. The resulting strikes were settled
by employers individually signing special wage agreements.
The Amalgamated Association of Iron and SteeT Workers of
the United States, formed in 1875 as an amalgamation of the
workmen's unions in this industry, found its principal strength
in the Sons of Vulcan.^^
RESTRICTIVE POLICIES -- APPRENTICESHIP
What distinguished the permanent labour organisation of
the sixties from the more ephemeral efforts of earlier periods,
was a conscious endeavour to maintain certain fixed trade rules
even during times of industrial peace. The beginning had been
made from 1850 to 1854, when the labour movement had for
the first time discarded productive co-operation for trade union-
58 Industrial Commission, Report XVII, 339.
APPRENTICESHIP 81
ism, but on account of the ensuing panic and industrial de-
pression it was not before the sixties that these characteristics
came into high relief. When a trade union of skilled mechan-
ics begins to set up permanent trade rules, it is usually to ap-
prenticeship that it turns its first attention. Thus it was that
during the sixties the rules of apprenticeship, or restrictions
on the entrance to a trade, became probably the subject of para-
mount interest to unionists in the vast majority of the trades.
It was not surprising that apprenticeship should reach an
acute stage at this time. The wider market, which resulted
from through railway transportation, forced the employer to
give increased attention to his functions as a merchant, and
correspondingly decreased the amount of time which he was
able to devote to his duties as the instructor of his apprentices.
N'aturally the training of the apprentices was bound to suffer.
IN^or was that all. The keen competition in the national mar-
ket made it imperative upon the employers to reduce operating
costs. They therefore dismissed some of their journeymen and
filled their places by cheaply paid boys whom they styled ap-
prentices.
Closely parallel was the attempt to reduce manufacturing
costs by introducing a more or less minute division of labour.
This resulted in splitting up the old established trades into
independent branches, each apprentice specialising in only one
branch and learning little beyond that.
But apprenticeship broke down not merely because the em-
ployer succumbed to the temptation of exploiting cheap boy
labour. Under the new conditions he could not teach them
the trade properly even if he had the best intention of doing so.
The increase in the scale of production had transformed him
from a mere master workman of a small shop into a superin-
tendent of an industrial plant, with the result that he had lost
the old-time intimate contact with his journeymen and appren-
tices. Thus between the newly enhanced merchant function
and the enlarged duties of general supervision he had no time
left for teaching apprentices, and, if he continued taking them,
he had to delegate their instruction to his foremen. IN^ow the
foreman had contracted no personal obligations towards the
apprenticed boy, but was instead possessed of a keen interest
82 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IJST THE UNITED STATES
to enlarge the output of his department. Consequently, it was
only natural that he tended to keep the boy indefinitely at the
first operation which he had thoroughly learned rather than to
shift him from one operation to another until he mastered the
whole trade. Often the boy brought the apprenticeship to a
premature end by running away. If he was not of the ad-
venturous type, he stayed until his term expired. But in
either case he remained only partially trained and a competitive
menace to the all-round mechanics.
The situation called for preventive action, namely the en-
forcement upon the employer of stringent apprenticeship rules.
But with the means of communication revolutionised by the
railroad, the menace no longer was local in its nature. The
fact was that it was possible to mobilise the army of '^ botches '^
at short notice at any point where the workmen threatened to
go on strike, and it was utterly beyond the power of any one
locality to control the situation short of violence. There was
needed an agency which should be able to extend its authority
into every locality in order to stop the breeding of " botches ^'
at the very source. The national trade union of the sixties was
endeavouring to meet this need.^^
The unionists of this period had two demands to make with
reference to the apprentice question. They repeated the de-
mand made by their predecessors in the earlier decades that
no one should be allowed to enter a trade except as an in-
dentured apprentice for a term of years, generally five; that
the employer should be obliged to teach them the entire trade,
and that the number of apprentices admitted to a trade should
not exceed a fixed ratio to the number of journeymen. They
claimed that such a limitation of numbers was essential to good
59 The evils which came to be connected that he will be made a workman. They
with apprenticeship were described by are to serve the two or three years, with-
Sylvis as follows: "Recently this 'boy out any assurance whatever that at the
system ' has been introduced in its worst end of that time they will know a trade,
features in the city of Philadelphia; in ... Should they then have manly inde-
four shops there is on an average about pendence enough to demand their just
ten boys to one journeyman, and these dues, they will be turned away, and other
are almost entirely without instruction. boys put in their places. Being without
They are taken without regard to age or a knowledge of the trade, and outside of
any other qualifications necessary to make the organisation, they will be unable to
them ornaments to the mechanical commu- procure employment anywhere but in those
nity. A large number of them are inden- shops, where they will remain not as mas-
tured, but the agreement is so one-sided ters of their own business, but as slaves."
that the boy has no guarantee whatever Fincher'a, July 18, 1863,
APPRENTICESHIP 83
training and in a measure they doubtless were right. Yet it
is not open to doubt that their intention was restrictive.
The national trade unions tried to handle apprenticeship in
various ways, sometimes by forcing the employer to live up to
the regulations they prescribed, sometimes by appealing to
state legislatures, and sometimes by offering to take the em-
ployer into counsel. In any case, it was a difficult task to
force regulations upon the employer. When times were good
and more men were needed, the workmen could not stand in
the way of the employment of more men. When times were
bad and the unemployed numerous it was difficult to force the
employer to live up to regulations. Through legislation they
tried to revive the old indenture system. Bills were introduced
in Pennsylvania in 1864, Massachusetts in 1865, New York
and Illinois in 1869. The Massachusetts bill was the only one
that passed. The objects sought in all of them were legally to
bind apprentices for five years, to compel the master to teach
him the entire trade, to make the master responsible for his
moral training, and to prescribe the ratio of apprentices.^^
The employing printers were the only ones that paid any
attention to the solicitations of the union for an adjustment of
the apprenticeship system. It was to their interest to do so.
ISTo material changes occurred in the printing trade, yet the
chances for learning it were poorer than they had ever been
before this time. Printed matter must come up to a certain
standard, below which it attracts the attention of the public to
the detriment of the publisher. Employers felt this and were
willing to improve the skill of their workmen. At the con-
vention of the Typographical Union held in 1865, a resolution
was adopted that subordinate unions be requested to make
regulations concerning apprentices and, inasmuch as employers
and journeymen were mutually interested in framing such
regulations, that the employers be invited to participate with
a view of harmonising interests and preserving good feeling.^ ^
This effort brought no results, for in the following convention
it was reported that the question of apprenticeship referred to
subordinate unions did not receive much consideration.
60 Wright, Apprenticeship System in its 61 National Typographical Union, Pro-
Relation to Industrial Education, U. S. ceedings, 1865, 19.
Btdletin of Education, No. 6, 25-27.
84 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The result was that trade unions kept on regulating ap-
prenticeship, each in its own way. In most instances the
matter was left to the locals. The nearest the nationals ever
got to regulating apprenticeship was by prescribing the require-
ments of candidates for membership. The machinists and
blacksmiths, the coopers, and the cigar makers, for instance,
required that they should have worked in the trade for three
years. The Knights of St. Crispin required two years. The
ratio of apprentices to journeymen in a shop varied with the
condition of trade depression or prosperity. When times were
good more apprentices were allowed than when times were bad.
During the war times the moulders permitted one to each shop
and one additional for every six and a half journeymen. In
1866 with the coming of hard times they changed the ratio to
one apprentice to every eight journeymen in addition to one
allowed each shop.
The machinists and blacksmiths had a unique apprenticeship
problem of their own. In the early part of 1871, Charles
Wilson, the Grand Chief Engineer of the Brotherhood of Lo-
comotive Engineers, published an article in the Engineers'
Journal asking the railroads to permit engineers to work in
the shops while their engines were in repair. Wilson claimed
that he proposed his plan not because he intended that engineers
should learn the machinists' trade, but rather that they might
get familiar with every part of the engine, so that in an emer-
gency they would know just what to do. There is no evidence
to show that the engineers ever worked in the shops, but it was
sufficient to make the apprenticeship question for the ma-
chinists a paramount one. It caused considerable agitation in
their ranks and may have had something to do with the rapid
growth of the union at this time.^^
62 See Motley, Apprenticeship in Ameri- 11-12, pp. 37-41, for a general discussion
eon Trade Unions, in Johns HoP' of apprenticeship during this period.
kins University Studies, ser. XXV, Nos.
CHAPTER IV
THE NATIONAL LABOR UNION, 1866-1872
The Labour Movement in Europe and America. Eight-hour question,
87. Ira Steward and his wage theory, 87. Stewardism contrasted with
socialism, 90. Stewardism and trade unionism, 91. Stewardism and
political action, 91. Boston Labor Eeform Association, 91. The Grand
Eight Hour league of Massachusetts, 92. Massachusetts labour politics,
92. Labour politics in Philadelphia, 93. Fincher's opposition to politics,
93. Return of the soldiers — a stimulus to tlie eight-hour movement, 94.
The question of national federation, 94. The move by trades' assemblies,
94. New York State Workingmen's Assembly, 95. The move by the
national trade unions, 96. The compromise, 96.
Labor Congress of 1866. Representation, 96. Attitude toward trade
unionism and legislation, 98. Eight-hour question at the congress, 98.
Resolution on political action, 99. Land question, 100. Co-operation, 101.
Form of organisation, 101.
Eight Hours and Politics. Congressional election of 1866, 102. Inde-
pendent politics outside Massachusetts, 103. Eight-hours before Congress,
104. Eight-hours before President Johnson, 104. Eight-hours before the
General Court of Massachusetts, 105. Special commission of 1865, 106.
The commission of 1866, 107. E. H. Rogers, 107. Eight-hour bills in other
States, 108. Causes of the failure, 109.
Co-operative Workshops. Productive co-operation in various trades,
111.
Labor Congress of 1867. Activity of the National Labor Union during
the year, 112. Address to the Workingmen of the United States, 113.
Viewpoint of the " producing classes," 114. Representation at the Congress
of 1867, 115. The constitution, 116. The immigrant question and the
American Emigrant Company, 117. The question of the Negro, 118.
Greenbackism. Popularity of greenbackism among the various elements
at the Labor Congress, 119. A. C. Cameron, 119. Alexander Campbell,
120. The " new Kelloggism," 121. Greenbackism contrasted with socialism
and anarchism, 121. Greenbackism as a remedy against depressions, 122.
"Declaration of Principles," 122. The depression, 1866-1868, 123. Prog-
ress of co-operation, 124.
Eight Hours. Government employes and the eight-hour day, 124. Labor
Congress of 1868, 125. Conference on the presidential election, 125.
Representation at the congress, 126. Discussion on strikes, 129. The first
lobbying committee, 130. Sylvis' presidency, 130.
The International Workingmen's Association. The international regula-
tion of immigration, 131. Sylvis' attitude towards the international, 132.
Sylvis' death, 132. Cameron's mission to Basle, 132.
Labor Congress of 1869. Representation, 133. Effect of Sylvis' death,
134.
85
86 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The Negroes. Invasion of industries, 134. Causes of their separate
organisation, 135. Maryland Colored State Labor Convention of 1869,
136. Supremacy of the politicians, 137.
Politics in Massachusetts. The New England Labor Reform League,
138. American proudhonism and the intellectuals, 139. The Crispins and
polities, 140. The State Labor Reform Convention, 140. The Crispins
and incorporation, 140. State campaign of 1869, 141. Boston mimicipal '
election, 142. Wendell Phillips and the State election of 1870, 143. End
of labour politics in Massachusetts, 144.
Labor Congress of 1870. Tlie Negro question, 144. Decision to call a
political convention, 145. Changes in the constitution, 146.
Chinese Exclusion. The industrial situation in California during the
sixties, 147. The early anti-Chinese movement in California, 147.
Mechanics' State Council, 148, Effect of the transcontinental railway on
the California industries, 148. The National Labor Union and the Chinese
question in 1869, 149. The North Adams, Mass., incident, 149. The
Burlingame treaty with China, 149, The National Labor Union and the
Chinese question in 1870, 150.
Revival of Trade Unionism. Stopping the contraction of the currency,
151. Eight-hour strike movement in 1872, 151, New and aggressive lead-
ers, 152. Abandonment of the National Labor Union by the national trade
unions, 152, The Crispins — the exception, 152,
Politics and dissolution. Horace H. Day, 153. The " industrial " con-
vention of 1871, 153. Political convention, 154. Nomination for President,
154. Failure and dissolution, 155.
The National Labor Union was the successor in the sixties
of the National Trades' Union of the thirties, and the predeces-
sor of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of
Labor. Its organisation, policies, and final dissolution re-
flect the new nation-wide problems brought on permanently by
railroad transportation and the telegraph, and temporarily by
paper money. Its attempt to regulate immigration through a
voluntary arrangement with the International Workingmen's
Association of Europe indicates also the first conscious recogTii-
tion of the international competition of labour. It is more
than a coincidence that the famed International, the creature of
Karl Marx and the British trade unions, should have risen and
disappeared in the same years as the attempted national
organisation of all labour in the United States. The year
1864, which witnessed the meeting at Louisville of the Indus-
trial Assembly of ]N"orth America, witnessed at London the
preliminary conference of the International Workingmen's As-
sociation. In the year 1866 the National Labor Union was
organised at Baltimore and the International held its first meet-
THE NATIONAL LABOR UNION 87
ing of delegates from different countries at Geneva. In 1867
the American organisation met at Chicago, the European at
Lausanne; in 1868 the one met at New York, the other, at
Brussels. In 1869 the one that met at Philadelphia was repre-
sented by a delegate to the other at Basle. In 1870 the Eranco-
Prussian War interrupted the European congress, and the next
two years witnessed the dissolution of both organisations
through similar internal dissensions — the American organisa-
tion through the antagonism of " political actionists " and trade
unionists, the European through the antagonism of socialists
and anarchists.
The first great object of the International was the support
of strikes and trade unions through the control of migration
across the frontiers of European nations, and its later shift, in
1867, to socialism and anarchism coincides with the shift of
the National Labor Union to greenbackism. It was the na-
tional and international competition of labour, the weakness
of trade unionism and the depression of industry following a
period of expansion, that furnished the economic conditions
underlying both movements. That the one in America should
have dissolved in greenbackism, the other in socialism and
anarchism, was due to political and economic conditions pe-
culiar to each. Modified in this way, the attempted nationali-
sation of American labour movements, regardless of State lines,
was the reflection of conditions that in Europe led to the at-
tempted internationalisation of movements regardless of national
lines. The two lines of agitation that dominated the National
Labor Union were eight hours for work, and greenbackism.
The first prevailed in 1866, the second took possession in 1867.
The first authentic instance of the actual adoption of the
eight-hour day was that of the ship carpenters and caulkers in
the Charlestown, Massachusetts, navyyard in 1842. The join-
ers, in the same navyyard, secured the adoption of the same sys-
tem in 1853.^ But it was not until Ira Steward, the Boston ma-
chinist, brought forward his " philosophy " of the eight-hour
day that the impulse toward a national movement was given.
Steward converted it from the isolated efforts of local unions to a
1 Autobiography of Edward H. Rogers, MS. in possession of the American Bureau
of Industrial Research, Madison, Wis.
88 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
general demand for State and national legislation. Steward was
bom in 1831, and at nineteen years of age, while learning his
trade as a machinist's apprentice and working twelve hours a
day, he began his agitation for shorter hours. ^ From the begin-
ing of widespread agitation for the eight-hour day in the early
sixties until his death in 1883, he was so much a part of that
agitation that the man and the movement are inseparable. He
was essentially a man of one idea, and, in fact, was sometimes
called the " eight-hour monomaniac.'' ^ For this one idea he
lived, worked, and fought with almost fanatical zeal. After
1863, Steward was a contributor to nearly every reform paper
then published. Each article emphasised his one thought, and
many were his public lectures on the subject. " Meet him any
day, as he steams along the street (like most enthusiasts, he is
always in a hurry)," said a writer in the American Workman,*^
" and, although he will apologise and excuse himself if you
talk to him of other affairs, and say that he is sorry, that he
must rush back to his shop, if you only introduce the pet topic
of ' hours of labor,' and show a little willingness to listen, he
will stop and plead with you till night-fall."
Private letters tell us something of the discouraging struggles
of that time. Like every other reform that is hampered by
lack of funds, the eight-hour movement lacked workers. In a
letter to F. A. Sorge,^ on March 1, 1877, Steward says:
" Years ago Mr. McNeill ^ and I used to pray for the third
helper. Finally he came in Mr. George Gunton. Since then
we have been dreaming and longing and praying for the fourth
one. Perhaps you are the one.'^
Steward, although self-educated and influenced in his philo-
sophy by what he saw among his fellow-workmen rather than by
what he read, was familiar with the works of John Stuart Mill.
He was successful in attracting to his educational campaign
such men as Wendell Phillips.'^ In 1876 he joined the Work-
2 Chicago Tribune, July 5, 1879. form, was born in Boston of wealthy par-
3 Chicago Workingman'a Advocate, Mar. ents in 1811. He was educated at Har-
30, 1872, vard, and admitted to the bar in 1834.
4 June 19, 1869. Three years later he joined the abolition-
5 Letter in Sorge Collection, University ists and devoted much of his time during
of Wisconsin Library. the next twenty-five years to the anti-
0 See below, II, 92. slavery propaganda. With the emancipa-
T Wendell Phillips, prominent abolition- tion of the Negroes he turned his attention
ist, orator, and champion of labour re- to the relations of capital and labour, and
EIGHT-HOUR PHILOSOPHY 89
ingmen's party in Massachusetts and the following year helped
to form the International Lahor Union.
It was at the first convention of Steward's union, the ma-
chinists' and blacksmiths', in 1859, that a resolution had been
adopted recommending the discussion and agitation of a change
of hours of labour. This was reaffirmed by the succeeding con-
vention. The argument at that time had been the wage-fund
doctrine of " making work " by reducing the supply of labour.
But in 1863 Steward's ideas were enthusiastically adopted.
A committee was elected with him as chairman to confer with
a similar committee appointed by the Boston Trades' Assembly
and to arrange jointly for an agitational campaign for the
eight-hour law. Each of the two organisations appropriated
$400 to cover expenses. The resolution, evidently drafted by
Steward, read as follows:
"Resolved, That from East to West, from N'orth to South, the
most important change to us as workingmen, to which all else is
subordinate, is a permanent reduction to Eight of the hours exacted
for each day's work.
"Resolved, That since this cannot be accomplished until a public
sentiment has been educated, both among the employers and the
employes, we will use the machinery of agitation, whether it be
among those of the religious, political, reformatory or moneyed en-
terprises of the day, and to secure such reduction we pledge our
money and our courage.
"Resolved, That such reduction will never be made until over-
work, as a system, is prohibited, nor imtil it is universally recog-
nised that an increase of hours is a reduction of wages. . . .
"Resolved, That a Eeduction of Hours is an increase of
Wages. . . ."
The essence of Steward's theory ^ was the principle that
wages do not depend upon the amount of capital or the supply
of labour, but upon the habits, customs, and wants of the work-
ing classes. The productiveness of capital, he held, was in-
creasing at an enormous rate through invention. By encourag-
as early as 1863 advised the formation of dressed legislative committees in support
a separate labour party. In 1869 he en- of labour legislation when no other man of
couraged both the establishment of the note could be found to do so. In 1870 he
Boston Eight Hour League and the Massa- was the candidate of the Labor Reform
chusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. Lib- party for governor of Massachusetts,
eral financial contributions were made by Later he worked for the Greenback party,
him to funds for the publication of eight- He died in 1884.
hour literature ^^%nd frequently he ad- 8 Doc. Hist., IX, 24-33, 284-329.
90 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ing machinery, the labourer could increase this surplus, and
then could get such share of it as was required to support his
standard of living. The standard of living could be raised by
increasing his wants and necessities, and these have an ex-
pansive and indefinite limit, provided the labourer has the
leisure that awakens desires, broadens opinions, improves habits,
and multiplies wants. But such an increase of wants would
not be possible if the competition of low-standard labour was
permitted to drive out the labour of higher standards. It was
not necessary to prohibit immigration, and it was inadequate
to depend on trade unions. It was necessary only to adopt a
universal eight-hour law which would compel the low-standard
labourer, who already could barely live on his ten- and twelve-
hour wages, to demand the same daily pay for eight hours.
Soon this compulsory reduction of his hours would increase his
wants and compel him to demand still higher pay, which, again,
the growing surplus of machine production would permit the
employer to pay. As a concession to the prevailing labour
theories of the injustice and needlessness of interest and profits,
he predicted that ultimately the labourer's rising standards of
living w^ould take both interest and profit away from the cap-
italists and thus gradually introduce the co-operative common-
wealth.^
Such a philosophy was somewhat less revolutionary and
Utopian than the theories of socialism, but, like socialism,
it was a clear-cut and unmixed doctrine of wage-consciousness
and wage-solidarity. As such it is distinctly the American
counterpart of Lassalle's " iron law of wages," differing rad-
ically from the latter in its emphasis on the psychological wants
that elevate labour above the animal, instead of the merely
physiological wants that maintain only life and the species —
not an iron law, but a golden law of wages. It was this very
optimism of the doctrine that gave it enthusiastic acceptance
and made it henceforth a true watchword and rallying cry for
labor. ^*^ Its revolutionary character consisted in its disregard
9 Steward's philosophy was afterwards lO It was Steward's wife who framed
taken up by George Gunton and made, the up the jingle:
basis of his book, Wealth and Progress " Whether you work by the piece or work
. . . the Economic Philosophy of the by the day,
Eight Hour Movement. Decreasing the hours increases the pay."
Spencer, Address Before Prospect Union.
EIGHT-HOUR PHILOSOPHY 91
of trade union action and its reliance on universal state and
Federal eight-hour laws enacted and enforced by the labour
vote. When later its impracticability became evident, and la-
bour began to fall back on the strike and trade unions for se-
curing the eight-hour day, the less ambitious and more spurious
argument of ^' making work '' for the unemployed was found
to be more in harmony with the other restrictive arguments of
trade unionism.
Since Steward's scheme was legislative, it required a plan to
secure legislative influence. As outlined by him, it was simi-
lar to the one adopted by George Henry Evans in promoting his
land reform schemes:
" The basis of operation for the reformer," said Steward, " is a
certain amo-ant of public opinion. With this he bids for the
aid and power of those who will do nothing without it. The
Labor Reform enterprise makes this bid. It expects to be served by
men who at heart want nothing but position, power, pay and honour ;
for it cannot succeed without them. . . . The men to take council
together, are those who have created a public opinion powerful
enough to attract politicians. Politicians are wanted, not in council
but in action ! In council a ' 3''es ' or ' no ' programme should be
written, adopted, and submitted to them in the briefest possible
terms. . . . Present this to all candidates for official position, from
Governor down to city and town officials. . . . ' Will you, if elected
to the office for which you have been nominated, vote for this
bill?'""
In 1864 the first independent eight-hour organisation had
been created by Steward and his associates in Boston. Its first
name was the "Workingmen's Convention, which was soon
changed to Labor Eeform Association. It was composed of
members of trade unions in the city, and a writer in Fincher^s
openly accused it of being " the result of a clique, who, finding
that in the Workingmen's Assembly they could not rule that
body to their thoughts, nor had patience enough to ' work and
wait ' for fair results, resolved they would ' withdraw,' in other
words ' secede ' . . . and endeavour to carry out their view of
the idea." ^^ The association was composed largely of ma-
chinists and blacksmiths who had always been the most ardent
advocates of the eight-hour system. In its general policy, the
11 Fincher's. May 13. 1865. 12 Ibid., July 16, 1864.
92 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
association followed the principle of legislative action as laid
down by Steward, rather than that of direct trade union action.
The Grand Eight-Hour League of Massachusetts, organised
in 1865, with its subordinate leagues in the State, followed ex-
actly the line of action proposed by Steward. Next to Steward,
George E. McNeill ^^ was most prominent as an eight-hour
propagandist. The eight-hour leagues in Charleston, Chelsea,
Medford, and East Boston, sent delegates in September, 1865,
to the Republican state convention to demand the inserting of
an eight-hour plank in the platform, in which effort they suc-
ceeded. The Republican nominee for governor likewise de-
clared himself in favour of an eight-hour law. Only in a few
localities, as in Eitchburg,^* where the Republican politicians
paid no attention to the eight-hour demand, were independent
labour candidates for the legislature nominated. The outcome
was disappointing. The new legislature contained only twenty-
three members pledged to an eight-hour law. The Daily Eve-
ning Voice openly expressed dissatisfaction with Steward's pol-
icy of exacting pledges from political candidates : ^' We learn
one important lesson from our experience so far, and this is,
that the workingmen must stand out as an independent party
organisation, and make no more attempts to control the action
of other parties." ^^
During the municipal campaigns in the various towns in
Massachusetts, which followed closely upon the general election,
the eight-hour men tried independent political action in Boston
(in co-operation with a dissatisfied faction in the Republican
party) and in Lowell, and met with encouragement. They
13 George E. McNeill was born in Ames- deputy chief, but was displaced for politi-
bury, Mass., in 1836. His father, a cal reasons in 1874.
friend of John G. Whittier, was one of the During the seventies and the eighties,
early anti-slavery propagandists. As a McNeill continued to be active in the
boy he worked in woollen mills and later labour movement and retained throughout
also at other occupations. He first be- all these turbulent years the full confi-
came known as a writer in connection dence of all factions and opposing organi-
with his work for the Boston Daily Voice sations. He published a history of the
during the middle sixties. About the American labour movement in 1887, en-
same time he espoused Ira Steward's titled. The Labor Movement : The Problem
eight-hour philosophy and was president of To-day. He died in 1906.
of the Boston Eight Hour League for eight 14 Boston Daily Evening Voice, Nov. 15,
years. In co-operation with Wendell Phil- 1865. The independent candidates, one
lips and others he succeeded in bringing for the senate and three for the assembly,
about the establishment of the Massachu- carried the town, but were defeated,
setts Bureau of Labor Statistics. Upon 15 Boston Daily Evening Voice, Nov. 8,
its organisation in 1869 he was made 1865.
POLITICS 93
elected in the former city one-third of the aldermen and one-
foui-th of the council, and in the latter, three aldermen and
sixteen councilmen. In Charleston, Koxbnry, and ISTew Bed-
ford, Steward^s plan of action through the existing parties was
followed and there also met with considerable success. ^^
However, the object which drove the eight-hour men into
municipal politics, the attainment of an eight-hour law for city
employes, was not realised. ^^Tor did they at that time succeed
in getting an eight-hour law through the Massachusetts legisla-
ture.
Similar political attempts were made by the workingmen in
'New York, and in ISTewark, !N'ew Jersey,^ "'^ but without results.
Cameron, of the Chicago W orkingman' s Advocate, favoured in-
dependent political action. ^^ This, however, did not prevent
him from accepting the Democratic nomination for the as-
sembly, to which, however, he was not elected. Fincher, always
the consistent trade unionist, opposed politics, and his opposi-
tion was based on experience and observation in his own city
of Philadelphia.
In 1863 a workingmen' s party had been established in
Philadelphia and it nominated a ticket for the municipal elec-
tion of that year. Speaking of the ticket, Finchers said:
" The only thing patent in the whole batch, was to secure the
election of this or that man to this or that Legislature, or this
mayoralty, and he would do all in his power for the working-
men. . . . But the entire absence of all proposed measures for
their relief, was to us conclusive evidence that all proffered re-
forms were only to accrue to the advantage of workingmen in
nomination for office." ^®
Again Fincher stated his grounds of opposition to politics in
the following graphic manner :
" Once absorbed in politics, the day passes in the workshop, with
but little anxiety for aught else, save the anticipated indulgence in
political scenes at night. The duties of block, ward, or township
coTnmittees absorb the time that should be devoted to the familv and
to the Trades' Union. The rifrhts of labor are made subordinate
to the claims of this or that candidate. He has not the courage to
l^Fincher's, Dec. 30, 1865. 18 Fincher'8, Apr. 22, 1865,
17 Boston Daily Evening Voice, Dec. 8, 19 Nov. 28, 1863.
1865.
94 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
demand his rights in the shop, because he is a companion of his
boss ^in the cause.' He is flattered and cajoled by his employer,
because his vote and his influence is needed among the * hard-fisted
mechanics and workingmen ' at the coming election — and a fra-
ternal feeling is thus awakened by mutual devotion to politics, which
restrains him from asserting and maintaining those rights so essen-
tial to the comfort of himself, his family, and his fellow-working-
men." 20
Thus, while the eight-hour agitation was broadening out and
preparing the way for a unification of all labour forces in the
National Labor Union, it was bringing with it the radical
differences that were later to separate the politician and po-
litical actionist from the trade unionist.
With the return of the soldiers and the slackening of
prosperity toward the end of 1865, trade union action no longer
brought its former successful results. ^^ A New York corre-
spondent writing in the Boston Weekly Voice on May 10^ 1866,
enumerated 40 strikes, largely in the building trades, which
had recently tak:en place in that city, of which but Y were totally
successful, and 8 partly successful.
This state of affairs aided in bringing the demand for an
eight-hour law to the foreground and thereby helped to bring to
a head the attempts to unify the labour movement into a na-
tional federation. A simultaneous agitation was begun by the
leading organisations of every type for a national labour con-
vention, but, before anything practical could be accomplished,
it was necessary to overcome the friction between the different
organisations. There existed among them a practically unani-
mous agreement with regard to the necessity of some form of a
national federation which should place the demand for an
eight-hour law at the head of its programme. But considerable
difference of opinion prevailed as to the most desirable com-
position of such a federation. The trades' assembly of Buffalo
issued, in May, 1865, an address calling for a " Trades' Con-
gress," to meet in Buffalo, to be composed " of delegates from
the various Local Unions of every branch of industry," the
object being " to preserve the many interests of the labouring
20Fincher's, Oct. 10, 1863, pected, the returned soldiers are flooding
21 A correspondent wrote in Fincher'» the streets already, unable to find employ-
for June 17, 1865: "As was to be ex- ment."
LABOK CONGRESS 95
classes of the Continent and establish our just rights through
Legislative action."
Early in February, 1865, the New York State Workingmen's
Assembly issued a call inviting all workingmen's assemblies,
and, where no assemblies existed, each local organisation, to
send five delegates to a national convention to be convened in
the city of IvTew York, on the second Tuesday in July, for the
purpose of ^^ devising the most eligible means to secure to the
workingmen eight hours' labour as a legal day's work." Its
foundations were laid at a conference of the trades' assemblies
of Troy and Albany in February, 1865, at which an address
was drafted calling "for a state convention of the different
Trades' Assemblies and Workingmen's Organisations in the
State," to meet at the city of Albany and to petition the legisla-
ture to reduce the hours of work and to protect free labour
against prison labour. The convention was also to take into
consideration the propriety of forming a state organisation.^^
This address was favourably received and the state assembly
was created.
Organisations similar to the "New York Assembly in object,
though not in composition, were the state eight-hour leagues.
These organisations were not strictly workingmen's organi-
sations but included also a number of sympathising non-
wage-eamers. A call for a national labour convention was
also issued by one of these. In ISTovember, 1865, a " Work-
ingmen's Convention " was held in Indianapolis, at which
a Grand Eight Hour League of the State of Indiana was
formed, with John Fehrenbatch as secretary. Before adjourn-
ing, this organisation passed a resolution recommending all
associations of workingmen in the United States to hold state
conventions and elect delegates to a general national conven-
tion. ^^ But the real rivals for the leadership in the movement
for a national federation were the city trades' assemblies on one
side and the national trade unions on the other.
The national union of machinists and blacksmiths had agi-
tated the idea of a national federation of trades as early as
1860, but nothing practical resulted, although the moulders'
convention in January, 1864, received the proposal favour-
22 Fincher'8, Mar. 4, 1865. 23 Ibid., Dec. 16, 1865.
96 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ably. 2* Two years later the Bricklayers' International Union,
in session in Philadelphia, appointed its officers as delegates to
assist in calling a " Convention of International Unions."
In February, 1866, William Harding, of Brooklyn, presi-
dent of the Coachmakers' International Union, met Sylvis in
Philadelphia and the result of this conference was a preliminary
meeting in New York, March 26, 1866, of representatives of
all trades except two that were organised nationally. At this
meeting it was resolved that a national convention be held in
Baltimore, August 20, 1866. Each local organisation was to
be allowed one representative, and each trades' assembly two,
and it was also voted that " the consideration of the Eight-hour
question should be the principal business of the convention." ^^
A committee was appointed to confer with the Baltimore Trades'
Assembly on the necessary arrangements.
But this was insufficient to allay the rivalry of the trades'
assemblies. The Workingmen's Union of New York City in-
dignantly repudiated the action of the officers of the national
unions with reference to holding a " National Convention of
Trades " as an assumption by a few individuals.^^ Finally, a
compromise was struck. The call for a national congress was
issued jointly by the above committee and the Baltimore Trades'
Assembly, but all organisations of labour, '^ Trade Assemblies,
Workingmen's Unions, eight-hour leagues, 'and Labour Or-
ganisations throughout the United States," were invited to send
representatives.
LABOR CONGRESS, i866
The convention met in Baltimore, August 20, 1866. Seventy-
sefen delegates came from 13 States and the District of Co-
lumbia. Of this number 50 delegates represented an equal
number of local trade unions and 17 represented 13 trades'
assemblies. ^^ Seven of the delegates were sent by 5 of the
eight-hour leagues,^® and 3 delegates by 2 of the national trade
24 International Iron Molders' Union, Wilmington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New
Proceedings, 1864, 12, 25. Albany, Chicago, and St. Louis. " Pro-
25 Boc. Hist., IX, 126. ceedings," in Doc. Hist., IX, 127-141.
26 Boston Daily Evening Voice, Mar. 28 Two city eight-hour leagues, Buffalo,
30, 1866. and New Haven, and three Grand Eigh^
27 Boston, New Haven, Norfolk, New Hour Leagues, Illinois, Michigan, and
York, Rochester, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Iowa.
LABOE CONGKESS, 1866 97
unions. Most in evidence among the locals were the building
trades with delegates from 19 unions. I^ext in point of repre-
sentation were the moulders, machinists, and ship carpenters,
with 7 delegates each. The Coachmakers' International Union
was represented by 2 delegates, and the ISTational Union of
Curriers by 1, but the real representation of the national unions
was much stronger. All presidents and secretaries of national
unions were invited to seats on the floor of the convention with
the right to speak but not to vote. Under this provision Jona-
than C. Fincher and William C. Otley, secretary and president
respectively of the machinists', and John A. White, president
of the International Union of Bricklayers, became participants
in the debates. Furthermore, four delegates who bore creden-
tials from minor organisations were at the same time officers
of national unions, like Alexander H. Troup, treasurer of the
National Typographical Union, and T. E. Kirby, secretary of
the International Union of Bricklayers.^^ The representation
from national trade unions on the floor thus really amounted to
ten. Other labour leaders widely known were A. C. Cameron,
the editor of the Worhingman's Advocate, representing the Chi-
cago Trades' Assembly and the Illinois Grand Eight Hour
League; John Hinchcliffe, the joint representative of the Rail-
road Men's Protective Union, the Printers' Union, the Ma-
chinery Molders' Union of St. Louis, and the Miners' Lodge
of Illinois. Important leaders not present were Sylvis, who
was prevented from coming by illness, and Richard Trevellick.
The convention elected Hinchcliffe temporary chairman and
spent the first day in completing its organisation. Hinchcliffe
was re-elected permanent chairman and on the second day he
appointed the following committees : on " Eight Hours in all
its respects," on " Trades' Unions, Organisation and Strikes,"
on " Co-operation and Convict Prison Labour," on a " IN^ational
Labor Organisation," on " An Address to the Workmen
throughout the Country," on " Permanent IN'ational Organisa-
tion," on " Public Lands and the N^ational Debt," and a com-
mittee " to confer with the President of the United States in
relation to the Reform Movement."
29 The remaining two delegates of this respectively, of the Machinists' and Black-
group were Richard Emmons and James smiths' International Union.
Ashworth, first and second vice-presidents,
98 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN" THE UNITED STATES
The sentiment of the convention is gauged best by the atti-
tudes respectively on trade unionism and legislative action.
The committee on trade unions, consisting of three representa-
tives of trades' assemblies, Cameron, of the Chicago Trades'
Assembly, Roberts, of the Philadelphia Trades' Assembly, and
Baldwin, of the Mechanics' Association of ITorfolk, Virginia,
and of two delegates from local unions, Reed, of the house
carpenters in Washington, and Auld, of the shipwrights in
Baltimore, presented a report which was adopted without de-
bate. It recognised that ^' all reforms in the labour move-
ment . . . can at present best be directed through the Trades
organisations," and recommended "the formation of unions in
all localities where the same do not exist, and the formation
of an international organisation in every branch of industry
as a first and most important duty of the hour," and further
also the organisation of the unskilled in " a general working-
men's association " directly afiiliated with the " general or-
ganisation." It also embodied the trade union recommendation
of a more rigid enforcement of the apprenticeship system.
" With regard to the subject of strikes," the report continued,
" your committee give it as their deliberate opinion that they
have been productive of great injury to the labouring classes,
and would therefore discountenance them except as dernier re-
sort." It further advocated arbitration as a substitute for
strikes and advised " the appointment by each Trades' As-
sembly of an arbitration committee to whom shall be referred
all matters of dispute arising between employers and employes."
When we consider that this was a period of phenomenal growth
of fighting associations of employers, it becomes evident that
by deprecating strikes and by recommending arbitration the
convention showed how little faith it had that results could be
attained through trade unionism.
The debates which centred around the eight-hour question
indicated that legislative action had taken the first place which,
in the international assembly of 1864 had belonged to trade
unionism. The committee of 14, 1 for each of the 13 States
and the District of Columbia, consisted of 8 delegates from
trades' assemblies, 1 from a Grand Eight Hour League, and 6
from local trade unions. The report set forth that " there
LABOR CONGRESS, 1866 09
comes from the ranks of labour a demand for more time for
moral, intellectual and social culture/' which is the '' result of
that condition of progress in which the workingmen of this na-
tion are prepared to take a step higher in the scale of moral
and intellectual life.'' But this at first went no further than
the resolution to recommend " agitation and organisation " as
*^ the two great levers by which we are to accomplish the great
result," and to state that " as far as political action is con-
cerned, each locality should be governed by its own policy,
whether to run an independent ticket of workingmen, or to
use political parties already existing, but, at all events to
cast no vote except for men pledged to the interests of la-
bor."
After its reading, the report was hastily adopted, but oppo-
sition immediately developed. It was begun by Alexander
Troup, representing the Boston Workingmen's Assembly, who
moved to recommit the report to the committee on resolutions.
Phelps, of the l^ew Haven Trades Union, defended the report.
He said that " he found in the meeting of the committee all
diversities of political sentiment, and many who desired to
make this congress a political congregation. All had been har-
monised." Hinchcliffe and Koberts, likewise, defended the
report, but Harding of the coachmakers said that it " would be
absurd in him to return to the body which sent him to the con-
vention to agree upon a course of action and tell them they
must make their own plans." Schlagel, a follower of Ferdinand
Lassalle, was the first one to urge upon the convention the de-
sirability of an independent labour party. His forceful ap-
peal decided the matter in favour of the opposition to the report,
and A. C. Cameron was delegated to compose another. " The
history and legislation of the past," said this report, " has demon-
strated that no confidence whatever can be placed in the pledges
of existing political parties so far as the interests of the indus-
trial classes are concerned. The time has come when the work-
ingmen of the United States should cut themselves aloof from
party ties and predilections, and organise themselves into a
National Lahor Party, the object of which shall be to secure
the enactment of a law making eight hours a legal day's work
by the N'ational Congress and the several State legislatures,
100 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
and the election of men pledged to sustain and represent the
interests of the industrial classes."
The report was at first adopted by a vote of 35 to 24. The
opponents of independent political action were the Philadelphia
delegates, headed by Roberts, who were clearly under the in-
fluence of Fincher, the delegates from Virginia, and the entire
delegation from Maryland. The last named explained that
they deemed it inexpedient for them to engage in the formation
of a national labour party forthwith, as they feared it would
prevent them from regaining the suffrage which had been de-
nied them in recent years. On the fourth day, however, the
vote was reconsidered, and the report recommitted " to meet
the objections of the delegates opposing it." The committee
recommended the addition of the qualifying words ^' as soon as
possible " after the words declaring for the organisation of a
national labour party, and the report, with this amendment,
was adopted with one negative vote.
Interesting conclusions suggest themselves when a compari-
son is drawn between the mutual suspiciousness during the
previous years of the trades' assemblies and the national trade
unions, and the harmonious unanimity with which the con-
vention passed upon questions of prime importance, like trade
unionism, eight hours, and politics. The fact that attention
was transferred from trade unionism to legislation made it
possible to relieve the convention of the embarrassing task of
co-ordinating the work of trades' assembly and national trade
union on the economic field, where, at that time, both possessed
equal strength and had overlapping jurisdiction. It was re-
solved instead to create a third organisation, the National La-
bour party, into which the centre of gravity should be carried.
There are no indications that this outcome was the result of
any premeditation, but it is nevertheless true that the antago-
nism between the trades' assemblies and the national labour
unions was to a very large degree allayed until the time when
economic action again assumed prime importance in the strug-
gle between labour and capital.
The question that loomed up as second in importance was
the land question. A lengthy report was presented. It argued
that the public domain was extensive enough to give every man
LABOR CONGRESS, 1866 101
a farm sufficiently large for his sustenance and for the support
of government, and that the whole public domain should be
disposed of to actual settlers only. It proposed the following
motto : " The tools to those that have the ability and skill to
use them, and the lands to those that have the will and heart
to cultivate them.''
Relatively little attention was given to the subject of co-
operation, although the co-operative movement was then at its
height. So exclusively was the convention's attention centred
upon legislative action that it did not go beyond a general en-
dorsement of co-operative stores and workshops and a recom-
mendation to agitate for the passage by the various States of
co-operative incorporation acts without specifying what these
acts should contain. The committee which reported on co-
operation also reported on convict labour and recommended
agitation for laws fixing the price of the contract labour of
convicts so as to equal the wages of workers outside the prisons.
The assignment of these two totally unrelated subjects to one
committee is in itself some indication of how little, it was
thought, co-operation demanded the concerted action of the
national labour movement.
The convention recognised the problem of women in industry,
and pledged to the " sewing women, factory operatives, and
daughters of toil, individual and undivided support. No class
of industry is in so much need of having their condition ameli-
orated " and ^' we would solicit their hearty co-operation," said
the committee on resolutions. Coupled with this was a resolu-
tion calling attention to the subject of tenement houses and
declaring that vice, pauperism, and crime were the invariable
attendants of the overcrowded, illy ventilated dwellings of the
poor.
The convention worked out no comprehensive plan of na-
tional organisation. It merely announced the organisation of
a national labour union to meet in annual congresses, in which
" every Trades' Union, Workingmen's Association and Eight-
Hour League " should be entitled to one delegate for the first
500 members or less, and for every additional 500 or fractional
part thereof, one additional delegate, and every national or in-
ternational union should be represented by one delegate. The
102 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
staff of officers elected consisted of ar president, one vice-president
at large, one vice-president for each State, territory, and district,
a treasurer, four secretaries, and a finance committee of three.
The president, recording secretary, corresponding secretary,
and vice-president at large, constituted the executive board,
which had the power to levy an assessment of 25 cents a year
upon each member. J. C. C. Whaley, of the Washington
Trades' Assembly, was elected president, E. Schlagel, the
Lassallean Socialist,^^ of the German Workingmen's Assembly
in Chicago, vice-president at large, and C. William Gibson,
of the eight-hour association. New Haven, secretary.^ ^
EIGHT HOURS AND POLITICS «
The Baltimore convention, although it took no decisive steps
to form a national labour party, gave an additional impetus
to independent political action in the States and municipalities.
In fact, throughout the existence of the National Labor Union,
from the time when a national labour party had been first sug-
gested, up to 1872, when it was finally consummated, the labour
movement was continually engaged in local politics. Massa-
chusetts, the original stronghold of the eight-hour movement,
naturally shared very prominently in this political agitation.
In August, 1866, the Boston Voice started an energetic cam-
paign to send Wendell Phillips to Congress. " What John
Bright is to Parliament, the workingmen of the third Massa-
chusetts district ^^ can make Wendell Phillips to Congress," ^*
was the enthusiastic motto.
The outcome of the congressional campaign made the Voice
sceptical as to the expediency of the early formation of a na-
tional labour party. The Chicago Workingmans Advocate,
on the other hand, was urging it with great enthusiasm, and
accused the Voice of lukewarmness to the political interests
of labour. In reply, the Voice said : " We perceive, indeed,
that workingmen in Illinois, Michigan, and other Western
80 His name is i^ometimes written lished monograph by Lorian P. Jefferson,
ShlSger. The Movement for Shorter Hours, 1826-
31 Doc. Hist., IX, 129, gives list of the 1880.
remaining officers. 38 This district covered a part of Bos-
82 In the preparation of this section ton.
the author drew largely from an unpub- 34 Boston Weekly Voice, Aug. 23, 1866.
EIGHT-HOUR LAW 103
States, have more zeal and dhow a stronger front at the polls
than their brethren in the East have ever done.'' It further
called attention to the great enthusiasm shown in some parts of
Pennsylvania, particularly in Alleghany County, and concluded
with the recommendation to organise a labour party whenever
it could prove a success, but implied that a national labour
party was doomed to fail.^^
Independent political action was resorted to less prominently
by labour than the method of pledging the candidates of the
established parties. This was practised with success in Con-
necticut, in Illinois, and in many other states. Likewise a
lobbying activity was kept up before Congress and the state
legislatures. The following more or less detailed account of
the vicissitudes of the eight-hour measure at the hands of the
president. Congress, and the state legislatures, will give an idea
of the difficulties the labour leaders encountered, and will shed
light upon the causes of the abrupt turn taken by the labour
movement in the following year.
Before adjourning, a committee consisting of one representa-
tive from each State, headed by John Hinchcliffe, the president
of the convention, arranged to meet President Andrew John-
son in Washington. Hinchcliffe presented to him in a speech
the subjects of hours of labour, public lands, protection against
importation of foreign pauper labour, and convict labour. The
president replied, pointing to his past political record, to his
work on behalf of an anti-prison labour law in Tennessee, and
to his pioneer efforts to pass a homestead law, but remained
diplomatically silent on all the other propositions. He stated,
however, in general that he had '^ said something on all the
propositions " and had himself " started most of them.''
But if the president chose to be noncommittal on such im-
portant questions as an eight-hour law, the labour organisations
did not fail to push the measure vigorously upon Congress
and the state legislatures.
The Government of the United States had previously taken
action on the question of hours on government work, when, in
July, 1862, a bill was passed providing that the hours and
wages of employes in government navy yards should conform
35 Ibid., Sept. 26, 1867.
104 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
as closely as possible, consistently with public interests, to those
of similar private establishments.^^ The eight-hour question,
however, did not appear until December, 1865, when Senator
Gratz Brown, of Missouri, offered to the Senate a resolution
instructing the committee on judiciary to inquire into " the
expediency and rightfulness " of enacting a law providing for
eight hours on all government work, the committee to report
by a bill or otherwise. The same question was also presented
in the House of Representatives, and the workingmen from
various sections of the country sent delegates to give evidence
before these committees. ^"^ There is no evidence, however, that
the resolution was adopted in either house. A similar resolu-
tion was introduced in the House early in the session of 1866
by Congressman William E. I^iblack, of Indiana, and it was
adopted, but nothing further seems to have been done.^®
In March of the same year, Congressman Rogers of ISTew
Jersey presented to the House a bill providing for eight hours
as a day's work for all labourers, workmen, and mechanics em-
ployed by or on behalf of the Government.^ ^ This bill never
came back from the committee. On March 17, Senator Brown
of Missouri again came forward and introduced into the Senate
a bill providing that " in all cases in which any labourers, me-
chanics, or artisans shall or may be employed by or on behalf
of the Government of the United States, or in any place which
is within the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, eight hours'
labour shall be taken and construed to be a day's work, any law,
regulation or usage to the contrary notwithstanding."
The friends of this bill in Congress were reticent about it
and deemed it wise not to argue in its favour before any audi-
ence. But they sent appeals to its supporters among their
constituents, urging, ^' if you want these bills reported upon
and passed, ' pour in your memorials/ " *^
While the bill was still under discussion. President Johnson
expressed himself as favourably disposed to the measure and
said that he would endeavour to bring it to pass in case Con-
gress should fail to enact the desired law. He did not, however,
se United States Statutes at Large, 37 38 House Journal, 39 Cong., 1 sess., 62.
Cong., 2 sess., chap. 184, p. 587. 39 Ihid., 288,
37 Boston Daily Evening Voice, Dec. *o Fincher's, Mar. 24, 1866.
18. 1865.
EIGHT-HOUK LAW 105
consider that such a law, which he assumed would be applicable
to the District of Columbia alone, would have any noticeable
effect in securing it for the country at large. ^^
Three months later, when the committee of the Il^ational
Labor Union called on President Johnson, chiefly in the in-
terest of this measure, he expressed the meaningless generality
that he was in favour of the " shortest number possible [of
hours] that will allow of the discharge of duty and the require-
ments of the country." *^
Congressman Ingersoll, of Indiana, succeeded in having the
House pass a resolution calling upon the committee for the
District of Columbia to report a bill limiting the hours in
the District to eight. The committee, however, never reported
and the matter was dropped for that session. ^^ On March
14, 1867, Congressman Julian introduced a bill making the
same provisions for the eight-hour day on government work
as those in the Rogers bill of the previous session. The bill
was referred to the committee on judiciary and ordered
printed.** The committee reported favourably on the bill and
on March 28 it was passed by the House and sent to the Sen-
ate.*^ The Senate took no action upon the matter and the
bill was lost. Thus the year 1867 went by and the eight-hour
measure was no further advanced than it was at the beginning
of the agitation two years before.
The efforts to secure eight-hour legislation from the state
legislatures were disappointing in many States, but successful
in six States, although as we shall presently see, these were
empty victories. The movement was at its strongest, and the
hopes for a successful outcome at their highest, in the State
of Massachusetts. A joint committee of both houses had
stated in its report at the close of the session in May, 1865,
that the limited testimony before the committee was in favour
of a general reduction to eight hours, and recommended that
an unsalaried commission be appointed by the governor to in-
41 Boston Weekly Voice, May 17, 1866. 43 Bouse Journal, 39 Cong., 1 sess.,
42 Chicago WorTcingman'a Advocate, 563.
Sept. 1, 1866. Writing of this interview, 44 House Journal, 40 Cong., 1 sess.,
Ira Steward made the criticism that the 43.
committee erred in not presenting the case 45 Ihid., 135.
to the President in such a form as to re-
quire a definite "Yes" or "No."
106 HISTORY OF LABOUR m THE UNITED STATES
vestigate more thoroughly the merits of the question, and to
report to the legislature at its next session. ^^
The report created great enthusiasm among the labour or-
ganisations. Ira Steward called upon every trade union to
extend a vote of thanks to the committee. He concluded his
jubilant appeal with the couplet:
" Let all now cheer, who never cheered before,
And those who always cheer now cheer the more." ^^
Acting upon the recommendations of the committee, the
governor appointed a commission, which soon issued a circular
asking, from every one interested, information on the number
of working hours required in any and all occupations; the
hours of employment for children, their schooling, and their
wages; the occupation and wages of women, especially needle
women; the mental and physical results of overwork; the
means for the profitable use of the extra time to be gained by
a reduction of hours; the effect of shorter hours on business;
and whether a reduction of hours by law would lead to special
contracts.'*^
Responses were received from various organisations and in-
dividuals. The commission presented a lengthy report to the
legislature at its next session. They reviewed " the conditions
and prospects of the industrial classes," showing that viola-
tions of the child-labour law were frequent, and that the usual
time was eleven hours. They however opposed an eight-hour
law, but favoured a reduction from eleven hours. Their rea-
sons for opposing the eight-hour movement were stated :
" 1. Because they deem it unsound in principle to apply one
measure of time to all kinds of labour.
'^ 2. Because, if adopted as a general law, in the way pro-
posed, it would be rendered void by special contracts, and so
add another to the dead laws that cumber the statutes.
" 3. Because a very large proportion of the industrial inter-
ests of the country could not observe it.
^' 4. Because, if restricted as some propose, to the employes
46 Massachusetts, House Document, 48 Massachusetts, House Document,
1865. No. 259. 1866, No. 98.
4T Fincher'9, May 18, 1865.
EIGHT-HOUE LAW 107
of the state, it would be manifestly partial, and therefore un-
just." '^
Feeling, however, that they had been unable to do full jus-
tice to the question of the hours of labour, the commission sug-
gested that a paid commission be appointed to continue the in-
vestigation.
Accordingly, a resolution of the legislature. May 28, 1866,
provided for a commission to be appointed by the governor for
the purpose of investigating the subject of hours of labour,
^' especially in its relation to the social, educational, and sani-
tary condition of the industrial classes, and to the permanent
prosperity of the productive interests of the state." ^^
Following the example set by the earlier commission, this
body, consisting of Amasa Walker, the economist, William
Hyde, and Edward H. Rogers, issued a circular asking for in-
formation from corporations and individuals in various occupa-
tions throughout the State.
The report returned by this commission was not unanimous.
Walker and Hyde sent in a majority report which recommended
that no law restricting the hours of labour be enacted for the
adult population. '^^
E. H. Rogers' minority report was a very careful and able
discussion of the investigations made, and in it he reviewed
the early struggle for a reduction of hours, the recent efforts
of the caulkers and ship carpenters of Boston to gain the eight-
hour day, and the eight-hour philosophy. He recommended
the adoption of a law limiting hours to eight per day, in the ab-
sence of a contract to the contrary. No law was enacted, how-
ever.'^^
Meanwhile the question was not neglected in other States.
A bill providing for eight hours was introduced in the Pennsyl-
vania house of representatives in February, 1866. It passed,
but was lost in the senate.^^ The Ohio house of representa-
tives in the same month passed a similar bill by a vote of 70
to 14. The senate made some trifling amendments to the bill
49 Ibid. 51 Massachusetts, House Document,
50 Massachusetts, Acta and Resolves, 1867, No. 44.
1866, chap. 92. 320. 52 JHd.
53 House Journal, 1866, 769.
108 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
and passed it. But the house refused to concur in these amend-
ments and the bill was lost.^*
New Jersey's legislature was no longer favourable to the
eight-hour system, and the bill there introduced was likewise
lost.^^ Illinois enacted an eight-hour law,^^ but it was not en-
forced. Wisconsin, by a law enacted in 1867, provided for the
eight-hour day for women and children,^ '^ but it laid a penalty
only upon an employer who should compel any woman or child
to work more than eight hours a day.
The nation-wide agitation for an eight-hour law met with
some measure of success in California, which had 'passed a
ten-hour law in 1853. In January, 1866, a concurrent resolu-
tion was adopted by the legislature providing for the appoint-
ment of a committee, consisting of three members from the
senate and two from the house, to investigate the proposition
to change the hours of labour in the legal day.^^ No record
is obtainable of the report of this committee, but at the session
of 1868 a bill was passed providing for the eight-hour day in
all cases unless otherwise stipulated by the parties contracting.
Eight hours was made the legal day for all public employment,
and a fine of from $10 to $100 was imposed upon the employer
who should employ a child at any work for more than eight
hours in any one day.^®
Connecticut had, in the meantime, enacted a law establish-
ing eight hours as the legal day for all persons, unless other
hours were agreed upon by the parties concerned.^^ The imme-
diate success in this State was mainly due to the efforts of
Phelps, vice-president of the National Labor Union for that
State and president of the trades' union of New Haven.
A victory, which later however proved futile, occurred in
the State of New York. Here William Jessup, the president
of the state workingmen's assembly, led in the fight. He was
the first labour leader to appreciate the value of exact statistical
data in support of labour's demands before the legislature.
^*: Bouse Journal, 1866, 195, 420. 58 California, Laws, 1865-1866, chap.
55 Ninetieth General Assembly of New 2, 882.
Jersey, Minutes of Totes and Proceedings, no Ihid., 1868, chap. 70, p. 63.
1866. 653. 60 Connecticut, Latvs, 1867, chap. 37,
56 niinois. Public Laws, 1867, 101. 23.
57 Wisconsin, Laws, 1867, chap. 83,
p. 80.
EIGHT-HOUE LAW 109
An eight-hour bill was introduced in the assembly in the spring
of 1867. This passed both houses,^ ^ and was signed by Gov-
ernor Fenton. He refused, however, to see that it was prop-
erly enforced. Every law, he said, was obligatory by its own
nature, and could derive no additional force from any further
act of his.^^
The question was brought before the legislatures of Mich-
igan, Maryland, Minnesota, and Missouri. But with the sin-
gle exception of the last named State, the bills were de-
feated.^3
A feature which characterised all of these measures, whether
enacted or merely proposed, was the permission of longer hours
than those named in the law, provided they were so specified
in the contract. A contract requiring ten or more hours a
day would be perfectly legal. The eight-hour day was the legal
day only " when the contract was silent on the subject or
where there is no express contract to the contrary," as stated
in the Wisconsin law. 'None of the laws provided for the pro-
tection of agricultural labour, and most of them did not include
domestic service.
The movement for eight-hour laws thus, on the whole, proved
futile. How the advocates of this legislation viewed the re-
sults was clearly expressed in 1867 by the committee on eight-
hours at the second convention of the National Labor Union
which said : " Your committee wish also further to state that
Eight Hour laws have been passed by the legislatures of six
states, but for all practical intents and purposes they might as
well have never been placed on the statute books, and can only
be described as frauds on the labouring class." ^^
The causes were several. Eirst, the American Federal sys-
tem made it necessary to break the movement up into as many
independent parts as there were state legislatures. In Eng-
land, a legislative movement had the advantage that Parliament
was the only body upon which labour needed to bring pressure
in order to attain results. In the United States, Congress could
pass a shorter hour law only for the District of Columbia, the
61 Laws, 1867, chap. 856. 64 " Proceedings " (1867), in Chicago
62 Chicago Workingman's Advocate, Workingman's Advocate, Aug. 31, 1867;
Oct. 12, 1867. Doc. Hist., IX, 169-194.
63 Missouri, Laws, 1867, 132.
110 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
territories, and for the wage-earners directly or indirectly in the
employ of the Federal Government.
Another cause was the inexperience of the lahour leaders
in dealing with legislative matters. They were easily be-
fuddled by skilful politicians, who, while in many cases willing
to pass the desired legislation, at the same time craftily
omitted to provide for the means of its enforcement ; and, when
asked to see that their own laws were enforced, they made, like
Governor Fenton of New York, the meaningless reply that
" every law is obligatory by its nature."
Meanwhile, the contraction of the paper currency continued.
The conditions of industry grew more and more depressed.
Unemployment rapidly increased and, in the face of a falling
market, strikes were doomed to failure. Some prompt and
fundamental measure was required to meet the situation. This
brought on a rapid growth of the movement for productive co-
operation.
CO-OPERATION
As early as 1863, when retail prices began to rise far more
rapidly than wages, a substantial movement for distributive
co-operation on the Eochdale plan as well as on the purely
joint-stock principle started. That movement continued with
varying success, but about the middle of 1866 there came a
strong current in favour of productive co-operation. Distribu-
tive co-operation, in fact, had been regarded as merely a be-
ginning, and Thomas Phillips, one of the foremost leaders in
this movement, had urged in his letters in Fincher's that co-
operation should not stop at store associations; they should
be a foundation for the rest. The store should be started first,
in order to get the capital and experience necessary to manage
manufactures, agriculture, and general commerce.^®
The Lawrence, Massachusetts, association, which did a flour-
ishing business for several years, was fairly typical of the early
efforts on the part of consumers to extend the co-operative prin-
ciple through distribution to production, and illustrates well
the beginnings of transition in the movement. On account of
the high cost of provisions, it was organised in November, 1863,
65 Fincher's, Apr. 30, 1864,
CO-OPERATION 111
to conduct a co-operative grocery store which was opened the
following January with a stock of goods worth $1,400. In
less than a month the company was obliged to add another
" store man " ; in April they opened a meat market ; in July
another man was put to work and a little later still another
clerk was added. In January, 1865, a shoemaker was hired,
and arrangements were made for " a female to make children's
clothes and to superintend the dry-goods department." They
had purchased a new store building, 4 stories high, 40 feet by
30 — the cellar for a meat market and stock room, the first
floor for groceries, the second for dry goods, boots, and shoes,
and the top floors for work-shops and shoemaking.
Agricultural co-operation also had its early adherents. In
May, 1865, news came to Finchers of the establishment of a
co-operative farming and manufacturing company at Foster's
Crossing, Ohio. Here, too, the promoter of the enterprise had
been active first in a co-operative grocery store (at Cincinnati)
and in addition had already commenced the publication of a
little paper called the Co-operative Record.^^
But the co-operative experiments which attracted special at-
tention during the three years following the summer of 1866,
were the efforts of workmen to carry on in their own shops
a form of productive co-operation which would give to them
the whole product of their own labour. Such attempts were
made by practically all of the leading trades including the
bakers, coach-makers, collar makers, coal-miners, shipwrights,
machinists and blacksmiths, nailers, foundry-workers, ship-
carpenters and caulkers, glass-blowers, hatters, boiler-makers,
plumbers, iron-rollers, tailors, printers, needle women, and
moulders. A large proportion of these attempts grew out of
unsuccessful strikes during the period of depression in 1866
and 1867. Most important among these were the co-operative
stove foundries established under the direct encouragement of
William H. Sylvis, president of the Molders' International
Union, of which a full account was given above.^'^
The machinists, too, throughout this period, took an active
interest in co-operation. The national convention, which met
in October, 1865, appointed a committee of five to report on
66 Ibid., May 6, 1865. 67 See above, II, 56-58.
112 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
a plan of action to establisli a co-operative shop under the aus-
pices of the international union. This plan, however, which
was later adopted by the Knights of Labor under the title of
" integral co-operation," was not adopted at this time, but there
was a fair number of machinists' shops on the joint stock
plan.
The taking up of productive co-operation brought the work-
ingmen face to face with the credit problem. For, granting
that they had sufficient to start the shops, they needed capi-
tal to finance their output. This need of a credit system
naturally led to monetary reform which, as we shall presently
see, was placed by the National Labor Union at the head of
its platform in 1867.
LABOR CONGRESS OF 1867
The chief hindrance to the success of the National Labor
Union was the lack of adequate provision for revenue to cover
expenses. The executive council had been authorised to levy
a tax of 25 cents on each member of the National Labor
Union, but the officers confessed their inability to determine
who were "members," as the constituency of that body had
been " indistinctly defined and but questionably established."
The lukewarmness of the affiliated organisations in providing
revenue should not, however, be interpreted as a disagreement
with the principles of the National Labor Union. President
Whaley reported at the next convention that the platform had
been invariably adopted by all unions before which it was
brought for ratification.
Secretary Gibson,^® within a month after the first convention
in 1866, issued notices for subscriptions to the proceedings of
that convention, but financial returns were insufficient to war-
rant their publication in pamphlet form. Treasurer Hinch-
cliffe received from the local tax for running expenses only
$205.21 and disbursed $187.25.
The three States which had made substantial progress in the
68 Evidence of his zeal is found in the He also distributed 2,157 printed letters,
records of his correspondence during the and 5,816 addresses and circulars. Mean-
year. Without clerical assistance he while he received only $75.38, and ex-
wrote 1,387 letters, and received 956. pended $791.62.
CO-OPERATION 113
work of organisation during the year, were 'New York, under
the leadership of William J. Jessup,^® Connecticut, under Al-
fred W. Phelps, and California, under A. M. Kennady. These
were the States which passed eight-hour laws.
An important event in the year's work was the issuing of an
Address to the Worhingmen of the United States by the com-
mittee, of which A. C. Cameron was chairman, appointed for
that purpose by the last convention. Realising that their ad-
dress would be subject to the ^^ criticism of the entire cap-
italistic press" of the country, and in order that it might be
"catholic in spirit, comprehensive in scope, simple in dic-
tion and unanswerable in argument," the committee had
asked for two weeks' time in which to prepare it for the
public. But it was not ready until July, 1867. The address,
while probably not " unanswerable in argument," doubtless was
" comprehensive in scope." It dealt with every problem that
affected labour, ^^ eight hours, co-operation, trade unions, the
apprentice system, strikes, female labour, IsTegro labour, the
public domain, and political action. Eight hours was declared
to be " engrossing the attention of the American workman, and,
in fact, the American people," and the arguments in its favour
were substantially the same as at the first convention. But the
subject of co-operation was given much more prominence.
After reciting the success of co-operation in England, it stated
that " there are special reasons and needs for the existence of
co-operative efforts in this country, for here there is less dispo-
sition on the part of capital to combine and co-operate with
labour, than elsewhere, in consequence of the excessive ac-
cumulations of capital by the great rates of interest which pre-
vail in this country/' This was the first suggestion in Ameri-
can trade union documents of what the next year became the
accepted platform of greenbackism.
On the subjects of the public domain, trade unionism, strikes,
and apprenticeship, the address differed little from the declara-
tions of the convention, although with regard to the last named,
the doctrine of vested rights in a trade was more clearly applied.
69 Jessup contributed individually to- widely distributed. Doc. Siat., IX, 141-
ward the expenses of the organisation. 168.
70 It was printed in pamphlet form and
114 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
But IsTegro labour and female labour were elaborately treated.
The Negro problem was discussed both from the economic and
the political side. Attention was called to the recent case of
the importation of Negro caulkers from Portsmouth, Virginia,
to Boston during an eight-hour strike, and the need of a gen-
eral consolidation of labour regardless of race was deduced.
But still greater attention was called to the coming importance
of the Negro as a voter and the question was squarely put:
" Can we afford to reject their proffered co-operation and make
them enemies ? '^ The address concluded on this question that
" the interests of the workingmen in America especially requires
that the formation of Trades' Unions, Eight Hour Leagues,
and other labour organisations should be encouraged among
the coloured race.''
With reference to the subject of female labour, the address
conceded that in many trades women were qualified to fill the
positions formerly occupied by men, but demanded that they
should also get the same compensation as men.
The last and the most important section of the address dealt
with " political action." Like the platform adopted at the
convention, it called upon the workingmen to " cut aloof from
the ties and trammels of party, manipulated in the interest of
capital " and to use the ballot in their own interests. However,
unlike the convention, the address did not treat political action
in connection with the eight-hour law, but linked it with the
abolition of " our iniquitous monetary and financial system,"
which reduced the " producing classes " to a state of servitude.
This change is an indication that the labouf movement of the
sixties was already abandoning wage-consciousness for the con-
sciousness of the " producer," embracing alike wage-earners,
small manufacturers, and farmers.
The adoption by the labour movement of the point of view
of the " producer," took place at a time when the movement of
discontent spread all along the line of the " producing classes."
As shown in the preceding chapter, the wage-earners were the
only class obliged to organise during the years of war pros-
perity. The farmers were reaping the benefits of high prices
and had no incentive to organise. But the falling prices after
the War affected the farmer and the wage-earner alike. They
POLITICS 115
meant unemployment and low wages to the latter and operation
at a loss to the former. The wage-earners felt the turning tide
sooner on account of the return of the soldiers to industry, and
they hastened to start a movement for remedial legislation —
an eight-hour law. By the year 1867 the farmers began
keenly to feel the depression and we consequently find them
joining with the wage-earners in a movement for legislation
that would benefit the " producer '^ instead of the " capitalist."
When the second convention of the E'ational Labor Union
met in Chicago, August 19, 1867, it contained four delegates
from three anti-monopoly associations in Illinois "^^ and two
representatives from land and labour leagues in Michigan. All
of these organisations represented the farmers' interests and
were but a small fraction of the numerous farmers' political
clubs, which were then rapidly forming in the agricultural
States of the West.'^^
The representation of the purely wage-earners' organisations
had undergone some change since the Baltimore convention.
The number of national unions which sent delegates had grown
from 3 to 6,"^^ the number of trades' assemblies had decreased
from 11 to 9, and local trade unions from 41 to 33, but the
eight-hour leagues increased from 4 to 9 and there was 1 state
organisation.'^^ The total number of organisations was 64,
and of delegates, 71. The well-known leaders were nearly all
present. There were Gibson and Whaley, Sylvis and Trevel-
lick, Hinchcliffe and Cameron, Jessup and Phelps. The Las-
salean Schlagel, although not a delegate, was seated by a spe-
cial resolution. Prominent absentees, who had been present
at Baltimore, were Fincher and Troup, but their absence was
more than balanced by the presence of Sylvis and Trevellick.
The important fact was the larger representation of national
trade unions, showing that legislative action had found ad-
herents among all forms of labour organisations.
President Whaley's report pointed out that the lack of a
Tl A. Campbell, later of "greenback 73 The bricklayers', the coachmakers',
labour " prominence, represented the Uli- the moulders', the tailors', the typographi-
nois State Anti-monopoly Association. cal, and the American miners' associa-
See " Proceedings," in Doe. Rial., IX, tions.
169-194. 74 The niinois State Workingmen's
72 J. L. Coulter, " Organization among Convention, represented by A. C. Cameron,
the Farmers of the United States," in
Yale Review, XVIII, 277-298.
116 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
steady source of revenue accounted for the inactivity of the
organisation. He dwelt on the importance of the Negro ques-
tion and emphatically declared that co-operation was " the great
panacea for the evils complained of by the working classes on
account of an unequal distribution of the profits arising from
their labour."
Secretary Gibson, in his report, suggested a more closely
knitted organisation and called upon the convention to evolve
a plan of action which should be not only national but interna-
tional, because " there is much activity and intelligent enter-
prise beyond the waters, and we may gain much streng-th and
encouragement from them, while our free institutions should
shed their light upon the darkness of usurpation and monarchical
oppression." He also laid great stress upon the currency ques-
tion.
The first important work of this convention was the adoption
of a constitution. It was worked out by a committee consisting
of Isaac J. Neal, W. H. Sylvis, William Harding, W. J. Jessup,
and D. Evans. The characteristic feature that distinguished
this constitution from the old temporary one, was the greater
amount of recognition granted to national trade unions. It
provided that " every International or National organisation
shall be entitled to three representatives and a Vice-President
at large, State organisations to two. Trade Unions and all other
organisations to one representative in the National Labor Con-
gress." Dues were apportioned according to membership, with
a maximum of $6 for organisations with more than 500 mem-
bers. Provision was also made for a salary for the president.
The discussion on the subjects of trade unionism, apprentice-
ship, eight hours and public lands contained little of original
merit. A resolution deplored the fact that '' the various in-
dustrial organisations now comprising the National Labour Or-
ganisation for all practical purposes, embracing labour com-
pensation, the hours of labour, and the matters affecting the
rights of the employer and employe, are acting independently
under the jurisdiction of their National and International
Unions," '^'^ and recommended more uniformity among these
organisations. The National Labor Union, of course, would
75 Chicago Workingman's Advocate, Aug. 24, 1867.
ALIEN CONTEACT LABOUR 117
not undertake that, since it was not an economic but a legisla-
tive organisation. However, on the related subject of preven-
tion of the importation of strike-breakers from Europe, the con-
vention decided that the National Labor Union should take
the matter into its own hands.
In July, 1864, an act of Congress had been approved, giving
validity to contracts made in foreign countries ^' whereby emi-
grants shall pledge the wages of their labor for a term not
exceeding twelve months, to repay the expenses of their immi-
gration," and providing that the contract should operate as a
lien on any property acquired by the immigrant.'^® Following
this act the American Emigrant Company was incorporated in
Connecticut ^' to import laborers, especially skilled laborers,
from Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland,
Norway and Sweden, for the manufacturers, railroad companies
and other employers of labor in America." The company's
authorised capital was $1,000,000, of which in 1865, $540,000
was paid up. Among its incorporators were bankers, employ-
ers, and politicians, and the company referred as its endorsers
to such public men as Chief-Justice Chase, of the Supreme
Court of the United States, Gideon Welles, the secretary of the
navy, Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Sumner, Henry C. Carey,
and a long list of governors, senators, bankers, and editors.
The advertisements stated that the company had " established
extensive agencies " throughout foreign countries, and that it
" undertakes to hire men in their native homes and safely to
transfer them to their employers here." " A system so com-
plete," said the advertisement, ^' has been put in operation here
that miners, mechanics (including workers in iron and steel
of every class), weavers, and agricultural, railroad and other
labourers, can now be procured without much delay, in any
numbers, and at a reasonable cost." "^^
Naturally this organisation called forth vigorous protests
in the labour papers, and it became a subject of excited discus-
sion at the meetings of the National Labor Union. It was
not, however, until the depression of 1866 and 1867, that seri-
ous effort was made by the convention to counteract the efforts
76 United States, Session Laws, 38 Special Reports, 1864-1865, 21; New
Cong., 1 sess., chap. 246, p. 385. York Herald, July 31, 1865; Doc. Hist.,
77 New York Chamber of Commerce, IX, 74^-80.
118 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
of employers and the Emigrant Company. The discussion at
the convention of 1867 brought out a number of facts relating
to the activity of the American Emigrant Company in pro-
viding strike-breakers for employers as well as the part which
American consuls abroad were playing in it. The convention
appointed Richard Trevellick a delegate to the congress of the
International Workingmen's Association in Europe with in-
structions to find a remedy. Trevellick, however, did not make
the trip, but the agitation started at this time doubtless led to
the repeal of the act of 1864, which had legalised alien contract
labour. This repeal was effected by a rider attached to an-
other bill.'^s
It is significant that, when speaking of trade union action,
the convention mentioned only national trade unions and
omitted trades' assemblies. On the vital subject of the Negro
in industry the convention chose to remain noncommittal. A
committee, with A. W. Phelps chairman, was appointed to con-
sider the subject, but their report showed an unwillingness to
deal with the matter. Phelps said it was so involved in mys-
tery and so diverse were the opinions of individual delegates
that the committee regarded it as inexpedient to take action at
that time. Sylvis insisted that the issue had already been
raised in the South by the whites striking against the blacks,
and predicted that " the Negro will take possession of the shops
if we shall not take possession of the mind of the Negro. If
the workingmen of the white race do not conciliate the blacks,
the black vote will be cast against him." Trevellick afiirmed
his faith that " the Negro will bear to be taught his duty."
Nevertheless, the convention avoided the question by adopting
the report of the committee, which stated, " that after mature
deliberation they had come to the conclusion that the constitution
already adopted prevented the necessity of reporting on the
subject of Negro labour."
Nothing new was added on the eight-hour question; it was,
however, quite evident that this measure had ceased to occupy
the foreground. The discussion on co-operation likewise oc-
cupied little time, but it was recognised that co-operation was
" a sure and lasting remedy for the abuses of the present in-
rs United States, Statuteg at Large, 40 Cong., 2 Bess., chap. 38, p. 58.
GREENBAOKISM 119
dustrial system, and that until the laws of the nation can be
remodelled so as to recognise the rights of men instead of
classes, the system of co-operation carefully guarded will do
much to lessen the evils of our present system." A permanent
committee was appointed to investigate the various systems of
co-operation.
GREENBACKISM
But if the convention did not give much time to purely labour
questions like strikes, trade unionism, eight hours, and ap-
prenticeship, it did not fail to devote great attention to ques-
tions in which the farmers' representatives shared a like inter-
est with the labour delegates. These questions were currency,
taxation of United States bonds, and political action. The
pre-eminence given to these questions was not due to the nu-
merical strength of the farmers' delegates, for they numbered
only ten, but to the intense interest which these questions aroused
among the labour delegates. We find, indeed, that there were
no more interested participants in the discussions on currency
and state finance than the representatives of national trade
unions, which the convention declared in one of the adopted
reports as the '' highest form that labour associations have
hitherto taken." These representatives were men like Sylvis
of the moulders, Harding of the coachmakers, and Lucker of
the tailors. In fact, the labour movement in the national field
had abandoned its wage-earners' demands and had come to
identify its interests with those of the ^' producer," the farmer,
and the small business man.
A. C. Cameron was the chief spokesman of money reform at
the convention. As the author of the Address of the National
Labor Congress to the Workingmen of the United States,
issued in July, preceding, he had shown his adherence to money
reform. Now, as the chairman of the committee on political
organisation, he came forth with a scheme which was an in-
genious adaptation of Edward Kellogg's New Monetary System
to the conditions created by the Civil War.
Kellogg was a small merchant in New York who had lost
his property in the panic of 1837. Thereafter he developed
his plan of financial reform, which he published first in 1848
120 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
under the title, Labour and Other CapitaU^ It was based on a
" labour theory " of interest, namely, the notion that any rate of
interest in excess of the labour-cost of carrying on the banking
business was robbery. The physical wealth of the country, as
Kellogg found from statistics, was accumulating at the rate of
about 1^4 per cent a year, but money, ^Uhe representative of
wealth,'' was increasing at the rate of 12 per cent. If the
government, then, would issue legal tender currency on real
estate mortgages at the labour-cost of conducting the business,
namely 1.1 per cent, the mortgagor could use it himself or lend
it to others at slightly more than that rate. In case the market
rate should fall below 1 per cent the mortgagor could return
the money to the government and receive a government bond
bearing 1 per cent interest, thus preventing the fall of interest
below that rate. If the market rate rose above 1 per cent he
could return the bond and get the money. By means of this
" interconvertible bond '' the rate of interest would be kept
close to 1 per cent.
In 1850, Kellogg had presented his plan to the Industrial
Congress of New York, to which he was a delegate, and it had
been favourably reviewed in the Trihune.^^ But it was not
until the greenback period of the War that his followers multi-
plied. Alexander Campbell, a delegate to the National La-
bor Union, published a pamphlet in 1864 entitled. The True
American System of Finance; . . . No Banks; Oreenhachs
the Exclusive Currency, which was reprinted in 1868 under
the title, The True Greenback, or the Way to Pay the Na-
tional Debt Without Taxes and Emancipate Labor. Cam-
eron, in his report as committee chairman at the Congress of
1867 had already adopted Campbell's modification of Kellogg's
scheme. The modifications were simple. The war debt was
to be transformed into the interconvertible bonds and the rate
of interest was to be 3 per cent instead of Kellogg's 1 per cent.
Of course, the greenbackers of the National Labor Union
did not overlook the inevitable inflation of prices that would
79 The subtitle continued as follows : system which, without infringing the
" The rights of each secured and the rights of property, will give to labour its
wrongs of both eradicated; or, an expo- just reward."
sition of the cause why few are wealthy 80 See above, I, 556.
and many poor, and the delineation of a
GREENBACKISM 121
follow this scheme, but that was not a matter of concern when
prices were already falling tremendously because of the retire-
ment of the greenbacks then persistently carried on by the
secretary of the treasury. But more important to them than
the eiFect on prices was the effect on rates of interest and on
the credit that could be advanced to producers. The scheme
was quite similar to that of Ferdinand Lassalle in Germany,
wherein the government was to lend money to workingmen to
finance their co-operative undertakings. It differed only in
that the money was to come from inflation of greenbacks rather
than taxes. The greenback theory was also on a par with all
anarchistic and socialistic theories, since it held that interest
was robbery to the extent that it exceeded the labour-cost of
conducting the loan transactions. Its confusion was parallel
v/ith the double meaning of the term " value of money." Kel-
logg and the greenbackers of the ISTational Labor Union looked
upon the market rate of interest as the market value of money.
The market value would be reduced if the government entered
the field as a lender of its own legal tender money. After 1872,
this aspect of greenbackism was abandoned for the most part,
and the sole argument for inflation was the other aspect which
defined the " value of money " as its power of exchange against
commodities, and which turned on the practical object of keep-
ing up the level of prices.
But '^ Kelloggism," in the form advanced by its founder, was
more than price inflation — it was a revolutionary philosophy
of social reform, entitled to rank with the similar philosophies
of anarchism and socialism. It was in harmony with the ef-
forts of the time to finance co-operation, to expel the middle-
man and financier, and to raise the small producer to a position
of independence. From 1867 to 1872 may be designated as
the social reform period, or the wage-earners' period of green-
backism, as distinguished from the inflationist, or farmers'
period that followed. I^Tot that discussion touching the latter
was absent prior to 1873. In fact the legislation of 1868,^^
which stopped further retirement of the greenback, was carried
81 United States, Statutes at Large, 40 notes at the quantity then outstanding,
Cong., 2 sess., chap. 6, p. 34. This act namely, $356,000,000. Knox, United
fixed the minimum amount of treasury States Notes. 140.
122 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
through Congress as a preventive of that contraction which was
reducing the prices of commodities. But it stopped short of the
interconvertible bond and the government loans for private
business, which were the machinery of the revolutionary scheme
to abolish interest on money.
In logical consequence of its espousal of greenbackism, the
committee on political organisation modified the declaration
of the Baltimore convention, which had set forth that work-
ingmen of the United States should organise themselves
into a national labour party, by substituting the term ^' indus-
trial classes " for ^' workingmen." It also recommended the
local nomination of workingmen's candidates, and presented a
lengthy platform as a basis of such political action. This plat-
form, or Declaration of Principles, modelled after the Declara-
tion of Independence, was a document of about 3,000 words
and dealt in about two-thirds of its space with financial re-
form.^^ It declared that the law creating the so-called national
banking system was a delegation by Congress of the sovereign
power to make money and to regulate its value to a class of
irresponsible banking associations, and " that this money
monopoly is the parent of all monopolies — the very root and
essence of slavery — railroad, warehouse and all other monopo-
lies of whatever kind of nature are the outgrowth of and sub-
servient to this power." Also, as a remedy against this money
monopoly, the platform set forth at great length the scheme of
interconvertible bonds and legal tender paper money and, as
auxiliary to the latter, the repeal of the exemption from taxa-
tion of bank capital and government bonds. The question of
the taxation of government bonds was again considered by a
special committee composed of A. Campbell, R. Trevellick, and
A. J. Kuykendall, and they found the question ^' one of very
grave importance," and the exemption a " burden imposed on
labour for the benefit of capital." In addition to the pivotal
question of financial and fiscal reform the declaration of the
congress pronounced against land monopoly, in favour of an
eight-hour law, co-operation, improved dwellings for workmen,
ajid mechanics' institutes; it expressed sympathy with the
working women and recommended to the unemployed that they
82 Doc. Ei$t., IX, X75,
GEEENBACKISM 123
" proceed to the public lands and become actual settlers."
•Finally, there was a plank deprecating strikes.
Thus, the l^ational Labor Union, having already abandoned
trade union action for the legislative method of shortening hours,
now took up greenbackism. This followed naturally the state
of trade from 1866 to 1868. The government's policy of con-
tracting the greenback currency brought its effect in the fall
of prices and severe unemployment. The general level of prices
fell in 1866 to 18 per cent below the level of 1864, and in 1867
to 27 per cent. The fall in 1868, after the anti-resumption
act of February of that year, was only 1 per cent.
The total lack of any reliable statistics on labour matters
(the first labour bureau, that of Massachusetts, was established
in 1869) greatly aided the formation of what were doubtless
exaggerated conceptions on the matter and tended to spread
much gloomier views than the situation warranted. William
Jessup, in his report to President Whaley, which the latter
presented to the convention held in New York, September,
1868, estimated the number of unemployed at one time during
the preceding winter at 20,000 in 'New York City alone. In
Buffalo, the report stated, the stream of Canadian immigration
had completely destroyed the twenty existing trade unions. All
of the coachmakers' unions in the State, except two, had dis-
appeared. The i^hip carpenters' and caulkers' and the woolen
spinners' unions had also become much demoralised. The whole
number of trade and labour unions in the State had, however,
slightly increased, and reached 285 in September, 1868. The
moulders were engaged in a severe and protracted struggle in
Eochester against a reduction of 20 per cent in wages. But the
most important strike of the year was the one of the bricklayers
in New York City for the eight-hour day. It began on June
22 and was still in progress in Poughkeepsie and Buffalo at the
time of the convention of 1868. The trade unions throughout
the country were giving the strikers generous support. But
the prospects were evidently not bright, for the weight of a
legal prosecution had been added to the strength of the em-
ployers. A lawsuit for $10,000 damages on the ground of
conspiracy was pending against Samuel R. Gaul, president of
the union in New York, and other prominent members. While
124 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
trade unionism was thus, on the whole, unsuccessful, co-opera-
tion was making headway in the State of New York. Jessup's
report enumerated successful co-operative foundries in Alhany,
Troy, West Albany, and Rochester; there were also successful
carpenters' shops. On the other hand, but three co-operative
stores had survived in the State. They were located at Albany,
Lockport, and New York, and Jessup said that " as a general
thing they are not as successful as other co-operative enter-
prises."
EIGHT HOURS
While the year 1868 was thus marked in the labour move-
ment with but poor success in the field of trade union action,
the efforts for legislative reforms were crowned, if not with
complete, yet with considerable, success. In June, Congress
enacted into law for government employes the chief demand
of the Baltimore convention — the eight-hour day.
The passage of this measure was due considerably to the in-
defatigable efforts of Richard F. Trevellick. Some months be-
fore the date of enactment, he was sent to Washington on behalf
of the National Labor Union, and he stolidly adhered to his
post although he was obliged to pay a large part of his expenses
from his own pocket.
This, however, did not end the battle for the eight-hour law.
The various officials in charge of government work put their
own interpretation upon the law and some held that the reduc-
tion in working hours must of necessity bring with it a corre-
sponding reduction of wages. Most notable was the order of
the secretary of war to this effect. A committee of workingmen
of Washington presented to President Johnson a vigorous pro-
test against this order, and asked that the President seek the
opinion of the attorney-general.®^ The President complied
with this request, but Attorney-General Evarts in his opinion,
November 25, upheld the action of the secretary of war. On
April 20, 1869, Attorney-General Hoar handed down a similar
opinion. The matter was finally settled by President Grant,
who, moved by the storm of protest from the working people led
by Sylvis, Cameron, Trevellick, and Jessup, issued on May 19,
83 Workinffman'g Advocate, Aug. 22, 1868.
LABOR CONGRESS, 1868 125
1869, a proclamation ^* directing the heads of departments that
no cut in wages should accompany the reduction of hours. Since
the department heads did not generally obey the order, a second
proclamation^^ was issued hj the President on May 11, 1872,
reiterating the same order. On May 18, 1872, the year of the
presidential election. Congress enacted a law ®^ which provided
for the restitution to all workmen employed by the Government
between the date of the first passage of the eight-hour law and
the date of President Grant's first proclamation, of such sums
as had been withheld from them because of the reduction of
hours of labour.
LABOR CONGRESS OF i868
The law prohibiting the further contraction of the currency,
which met half way the demand of the convention of 1867, was
passed by an almost unanimous vote of both houses and became
a law on February 4, 1868. Since the "producing" classes,
business men, farmers, and working-men were almost a unit in
urging its passage, no further obstacles were laid in its way,
and the country began rapidly to recover from the effects of
the late depression. The restoration of prosperity could not
fail to affect the labour movement, and we shall presently see
how it affected the National Labor Union.
Meanwhile, the time for the presidential election was draw-
ing near, and it became imperative to take a definite stand on
the question of a labour party.
The WorJcingman's Advocate urged Samuel F. Gary of Chid
as a fit candidate for president. The Welcome Workman,
while discouraging the principle of independent politics, pro-
posed Sylvis as the vice-presidential candidate, but added rather
sardonically, " Still we do not see our way clear to more than
about fifteen hundred votes for our ticket anywhere in these
United States, including Alaska." ^^ The People s Weehly, of
Baltimore, which advocated the platform of the !N"ational La-
bor Union but supported the Democratic party, urged the
nomination by that party of George A. Pendleton and Sylvis.
84 United States, Session Laivs, 41 s& Ibid., 134.
Cong., 1 sess., Appendix, III. 87 Mar. 17, 1868.
85 United States, Statutes at Large, 43
Cong., 2 sess., Appendix, 955.
126 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Sylvis was also mentioned as the running mate for Chase.*®
President Whaley called a special conference of prominent la-
bour leaders, which met on July 2, 1868, in New York City.
Among those invited were Phelps, Gibson, Jessup, Lucker,
Troup, H. H. Day, S. K. Gaul, Sylvis, Trevellick, Campbell,
Hinchcliffe, Mary Kellogg Putnam, and Ezra A. Hej^wood.*®
Heywood was practically the only one present who urged that
the National Labor Reform party should put a candidate for
president in the field.
The conference passed a set of resolutions reiterating the
various planks of the platform of 1867 and concluded by recom-
mending the holding of mass meetings to ratify the principles
of that platform, and ^' to vote only for those candidates who
endorse them.'' The resolutions continued : ^' Unless these
principles are adopted by one of the two great parties, we care
not which, we advise the National Labor Union, at its annual
convention, soon to be held in this city, to put in nomination
an independent labour candidate for the presidency, and rally
the masses to his support." ^^
The convention met September 21, 1868, in New York City.
The tide of organisation seems to have reached its height for
the period. All the important leaders were present and Sylvis
estimated that fully 600,000 organised workmen were repre-
sented. Eive national unions were represented by 8 delegates :
the typographical by Alexander Troup and Robert McKechnie,
the carpenters and joiners by Phelps and 2 other delegates,
the bricklayers by Samuel R. Gaul, the machinists and black-
smiths by Jonathan C. Pincher, and the moulders by Sylvis.
Five state organisations sent Y delegates ; the New York State
Workingmen's Assembly, 2; the Massachusetts State Central
Organisation of the Industrial Order of the People, 2; the
Labor Union of Indiana, 1; the Workingmen's Union of
Missouri, 1; and the Michigan Labor Union was represented
by Trevellick. Six trades' assemblies were represented by as
many delegates and 52 local unions by 53 delegates.
A significant change in the composition of the convention
88 Sylvis, Life, Speeches, Labors and 90 Chicago Workinffman's Advocate,
Essays, 75. Aug. 22, 1868.
89 See below, TI, 138, note, for his con-
nection with Josiah Warren.
LABOR CONGRESS, 1868 127
was due to the non-appearance of farmers' representatives. The
farmers' agitation had apparently subsided after the passage
of the currency act. l^either was there any representation from
eight-hour leagues. They were replaced by delegates from
three new types of organisations : " labour reform leagues " and
" labour unions," both purely political local organisations, and
working women's organisations. Of the first kind there were
three delegates from as many organisations, notably Ezra A.
Heywood, from the Worcester Labor Reform League. Their
presence indicated that the labour movement had absorbed a
portion of the radical intellectuals. The " labour unions " ap-
parently did not differ in their composition from the former
eight-hour leagues. They were preponderately workingmen's
organisations with a purely political purpose, and numbered
four delegates in the convention from as many unions.
Finally, the presence of delegates from women's organisations
heralded the appearance of the " woman question." Two !N"ew
York working women's protective associations were respectively
represented by Susan B. Anthony, the famous woman suffragist
leader and editor of the Revolution, and Mrs. Mary Kellogg
Putnam, daughter of Edward Kellogg. A third organisation,
the Woman's Protective Labor Union of Mt. Vernon, New
York, was represented by Mrs. Mary McDonald. The appear-
ance of the women delegates meant more than a stronger em-
phasis upon " female labour," a subject which had been fre-
quently discussed at previous conventions. This was apparent
from the fact that the women's unions were the only ones in
which the leaders did not come from the rank and file but had
to be drawn from the better situated classes, the educated
women. The convention faced the subject soon after it had
organised.
The credentials of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, signed by Susan
B. Anthony, secretary of the Woman Suffrage Association,
were presented and were reported formally by the committee.
A heated debate arose on the ground that the suffrage associa-
tion was not a labour organisation as stipulated in the by-laws.
After speeches and motions in favour by Sylvis, Lucker, Phelps,
Miss Anthony, and others, and in opposition by several dele-
gates, the credentials were accepted, yeag 94 and nays 19. The
128 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
next day eighteen delegates threatened to resign if Mrs. Stanton
were a recognised delegate. In order to appease them a diplo-
matic resolution was adopted, Avhich said that the admission of
Mrs. Stanton did not mean that the convention gave indorse-
ment to her '^ peculiar ideas," but " simply regarded her as a
representative from an organisation having for its object the
amelioration of the condition of those who labour for a living."
At the same convention the unanimous thanks of the congress
was tendered to Miss Kate Mullaney, chief directrix of the
Collar Laundry Workingwomen's Association of Troy, for her
" indefatigable exertions in the interest of workingwomen."
President Sylvis afterward appointed her assistant secretary
of the National Labor Ilnion,*^^ ^' to correspond with and aid
the formation of workingwomen's associations throughout the
country, and bring them in co-operation with the National La-
bor Union."
The convention of 1868 added little of original merit to the
discussion of the important questions which were agitating the
labour movement. It left unaltered the position previously
taken on greenbackism, co-operation, land, trade unionism, and
eight hours. Greenbackism remained the foremost demand, the
indispensable prerequisite before co-operation could proceed.
The discussion of the platform serves to illustrate how prac-
tically unanimous the delegates were with regard to the supreme
importance of currency reform. L. A. Hine, a member of the
committee on platform, who had been a prominent lecturer in
the land reform movement of the forties, submitted a minority
report in which he opposed the currency scheme of the com-
mittee, favoured gold and silver, and contended that the real
remedy needed was land limitation. Fincher was the only
speaker who sustained him in his opposition to currency reform.
Fincher, however, did not advocate land reform as the substitute.
He remained true to his position in favour of a strong trade
union organisation and an eight-hour law, the latter to be at-
tained by a policy of pressure upon the old political parties.
He attacked the scheme of interconvertible bonds and paper
money on the ground that it would '^ give the bond-holders the
power of making the amount of currency optional with them-
91 Proceedings, 1868.
LABOR CONGRESS, 1868 129
selves, for they could contract it at any time to answer their own
purposes. '^ Immediately the whole phalanx of leaders — Cam-
eron, Trevellick, Whaley, Susan B. Anthony, Sylvis, and others
— rushed to the defence of the pet scheme. Sylvis, however,
made the only real attempt to answer Fincher. He said that
the danger Fincher saw was merely an illusion, because the
greenback measure would " kill the bankers entirely.'^ Under
the new system, he contended, '^ we will borrow money from
the government of the United States, not from bankers; and
we will get it at one or one and one-half per cent.'^
The clause of the platform which deprecated strikes caused
a long discussion. A delegate from JSTew York moved that the
clause be stricken out, because it might have an injurious ef-
fect upon the bricklayers of N^ew York indicted for conspiracy.
This offered the opportunity to the women delegates to come
out in favour of strikes. Mrs. McDonald offered a resolution
recognising the " right of the workingmen and workingwomen
of this nation to strike, when all other just and equitable con-
cessions are refused." The convention adopted it unanimously
for the sake of the striking bricklayers.
'No other changes were made in the platform or constitution.
The only important new demand made by the convention was
the one for a department of labour, introduced by Sylvis. This
was the first appearance of a resolution of this character in a
labour convention. The resolution specified, " said department
to have charge, under the laws of Congress, of the distribution
of the public domain, the registration and regulation, under a
general system, of trade unions, co-operative associations, and
all other organisations of workingmen and women having for
their object the protection of productive industry, and the ele-
vation of those who toil.'' A supplementary resolution demand-
ing that in the act for the approaching census Congress should
order the taking of comprehensive industrial statistics, was also
adopted.
On the all-important question of political action, the con-
vention reiterated the necessity of immediate organisation of
a labour party, " having for its object the election to our state
and national councils of men who are in direct sympathy and
identified with the interests of labour." But it cautiously
130 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
added, " provided, this shall not be understood as contemplating
the nomination of presidential electors in the states during the
pending presidential campaign/'
Congressman Samuel F. Gary, of the second congressional
district of Ohio, was endorsed for re-election as an advocate
of the principles of the National Labor Union, and the " ac-
tion of our fellow workingmen of said district in making him
their candidate " was ^' fully endorsed."
The convention adjourned after electing Sjlvis president
for the next year.
After the New York convention in 1868, the National Labor
Union entered upon the most fruitful year of its existence.
Sylvis now introduced systematic methods and persistent efforts
into the management of the affairs of the National Labor
Union. He at once established a vast correspondence with men
interested in the movement, and issued several circulars, which
were widely distributed. The second circular contained the
following characteristic passage : " There are about three thou-
sand trades'-unions in the United States. . . . We must show
them that when a just monetary system has been established,
there will no longer exist a necessity for trade unions/' ^^
Shortly after the convention had adjourned, he appointed a
committee of five to reside in the city of Washington during
the session of Congress, whose duty it was " to watch over the
interests of our Union, lay our plans and objects before Con-
gressmen and Senators, and take advantage of every opportunity
to help along the work.'' ^^ This was the first permanent lobby-
ing committee established at Washington by a labour organisa-
tion. Congressman Cary, who was again elected in the fall of
1868, introduced on January 5, 1869, a bill embodying the
principle of interconvertible bonds and legal tender paper
money, and was supported by Benjamin F. Butler, of Massa-
chusetts.
In spite of the shortage of funds in the treasury of the Na-
tional Labor Union, Sylvis, in company with Richard Trevel-
lick, undertook, in February, 1869, a propaganda trip through
92 Sylvis, Life, Speeches, Labors and ings of the Convention of 1869, Doc. Hist.,
Essays, 81. IX, 232.
93 " Presidential Report," in Proceed-
LABOR CONGRESS, 1868 131
the South. He took advantage of every opportunity to bring
the principles of the National Labor Union before the people.
He addressed meetings, wrote letters to and obtained numerous
interviews with public men,®^ and printed articles in the Work-
ingmans Advocate, of which he had several years previously
become joint proprietor.
THE INTERNATIONAL
Sylvis was the first American labour leader to endeavour ac-
tively to establish relations with the European labour move-
ment; namely, with the International Workingmen's Associa-
tion, the European contemporary of the National Labor Union.
During the first three or four years of its existence, from the date
of its establishment by Marx and the British trade unionists
in 1864, the International had been primarily an economic or-
ganisation. Its main function was to assist trade unions in
the various countries during strikes, either by preventing the
importation of strike-breakers from abroad, or by collecting
strike funds. This suggested the value of this organisation
as a regulator of European migration to the United States and
led to a series of attempts on the part of each, the National
Labor Union and the International, to establish a permanent
mutual relationship. However, little was accomplished prior
to Sylvis' election to the presidency. The Baltimore conven-
tion had adopted a resolution inviting the International to send
a delegate to the next convention in Chicago, since it was too
late to send a delegate to the congress of the International at
Geneva. At the Chicago convention, the question of immigra-
tion was discussed. Trevellick had been named as a delegate,
but it was too late for him to attend. In 1868 Eccarius, gen-
eral secretary of the International at London, again invited
the National Labor Union to send a delegate to the congress
at Brussels, but this could not be done on account of lack of
funds. In 1869 the general council of the International ad-
dressed a memorial to the National Labor Union regarding
94 He had a rather interesting encoun- note, and Sylvis in turn retorted by a
ter with Attorney-Oeneral Hoar, to whom second letter written in a similar vein, A
he wrote a letter severely censuring him letter from Sylvis to Grant, while acknowl-
for his opinion upholding the reduction of edging the merits of the President's procla-
25 per cent in wages on public work, fol- mation of May 21 re-establishing the old
lowing the introduction of the eight-hour rate of wages, was framed in a similar in-
system. Hoar replied by a brief, haughty dependent style.
132 HISTOEY OF LABOUK IIS^ THE UNITED STATES
the impending war between England and the United States.
The International advised the simultaneous agitation by the
working people of both countries in the interests of peace.
Sjlvis replied by a forcible letter : " Our cause is a common
one. It is war between poverty and wealth. . . . This monied
power is fast eating up the substance of the people. We have
made war upon it, and we mean to win it. If we can, we will
win through the ballot box : if not, then we shall resort to sterner
means. A little blood-letting is sometimes necessary in desper-
ate cases." ^^
Sylvis died suddenly on July 27 following. Had it not been
for this loss of its leader the alliance of the National Labor
Union with the International, judging from Sylvis' corre-
spondence, would have been speedily brought about. A letter
from Eccarius was read at the convention of 1869, again ex-
tending an invitation to send a delegate and proposing the es-
tablishment of an international bureau of immigration. This
time A. C. Cameron, editor of the Worhingman's Advocate,
and an ardent greenbacker, was sent as a delegate to the con-
gress of the International at Basle, his expenses being paid by
Horace H. Day. Cameron took small part in the work of the
congress. ^^ On his way home, he attended a meeting of the
General Council of the International in London and discussed
the establishment of an international bureau of immigration.
Nothing practical, however^ resulted from Cameron's mission,
except that the National Labor Union at its next annual con-
vention in Cincinnati, in 1870, adopted a resolution in favour
of affiliating with the International. But this belated affiliation
had no practical significance.
95 Both the call and Sylvis' letter, dated which has created the evils of which the
May 26, were printed in the Vorbote, or- American workman complains. In the
gan of the I. W. A., published at Geneva, one case a thorough reconstruction is im-
Switzerland, September, 1869. See also peratively demanded; in the other a just
Doc. Hist., IX, 333-350. administration of the fundamental princi-
96 However, some of the observations pies upon which the government is
he made in his letters from Europe to the founded alone is required." He went on
Workinffman'a Advocate on the nature of to apologise for the extreme radicalism of
the European labour movement merit at- the International. " Land monopoly in
tontion. In the issue of Nov. 6, 1869, he Europe," he said, " is as money monopoly
said: "One important fact, however, in the United States, the matrix of all
must not be overlooked — that while the evil ; the demand, therefore, of the Inter-
institutions and state of society prevailing national to abolish private property in
in Europe are a legitimate offspring — the land is just as legitimate as the demand
inevitable offshoot of despotism — in the of the National Labor Union to abolish
other it is a perversion — a maladminis- monopoly of money." Doc. Hist., IX,
tration of the spirit of our institutions 341-350.
LABOR CONGRESS, 1869 133
LABOR CONGRESS OF 1869
Sylvis did not live to see the large representation at the con-
vention of 1869 from the numerous labour organisations which
his efforts had brought within the fold of the National Labor
Union. This convention met in Philadelphia, August 16, 1869.
The representation numbered 142 and included delegates from
3 international trade unions — the moulders, pirinters, ma-
chinists and blacksmiths, and from the national carpenters' and
joiners' union; from 2 state trade organisations — the Penn-
sylvania Grand Lodge of the Knights of St. Crispin and the
United Hod Carriers' and Labourers' Association of Pennsyl-
vania ; from 3 state federations — Pennsylvania, Kansas, and
California ; from 6 trades' assemblies — j^ew York, Bridgeport,
Camden, Springfield, Washington, D. C, Monroe County
(Eochester), ]^ew York; from 53 local trade unions; from 10
labour unions (directly chartered by the ISTational Labor
Union) ; and from a few miscellaneous benefit and reform as-
sociations. Significant was the appearance for the first time of
Negro delegates. All of the prominent leaders, Jessup, Troup,
Trevellick, Cameron, and Campbell, were present. Objection
was made by Walsh of the typographical union to the admission
of Susan B. Anthony on the ground that the Workingwomen's
Protective Association, of which she was president, was not a
bona fide labour organisation ; and that she had striven to pro-
cure situations for girls in printing offices at lower wages than
those received by men who had been discharged. Trevellick,
Cameron, and several others favoured her admission, but after
a prolonged debate her credentials were rejected on a vote of
63 to 28.9^
President Lucker of the tailors' national union, who had
taken Sylvis' place, spoke in his report of the revival of the
conspiracy laws; the imprisonment of two men in Schuylkill
County, Pennsylvania, " simply because they were members
of a workingmen's union " ; the progress of eight-hour legisla-
97 The convention was not opposed to tantlj' to be sure, and had established a
the admission of women, as there was a woman's local in New York City. See
woman delegate from a Crispin lodge. Andrews and Bliss, History of Women in
Even the typographical union had at this Trade Unions, Sen. Doc, 61 Cong., 2
time opened its doors to women, reluc- sess., No. 645, vol. X, 87, 103.
134 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
tion ; the revival of the coolie trade ; the failure of co-operative
enterprises to take that " hold among the producers that their
importance entitles them to." He endorsed the formation of a
national labour party " to capture Washington, not with bullets,
but with ballots, in 1872 " ; recommended the appointment of a
delegate to the international congress in Basle; and reported
the formation of- twenty-six labour unions located mostly in the
western and southern States and " in the main composed of
those who are not directly connected with any trade union."
The nature of the work of the convention bears ample testi-
mony to the loss that the labour movement had sustained through
the death of Sylvis. ^"0 longer guided by his systematic con-
structive mind, the convention added practically nothing new
to the work of the previous conventions. The platform was
rewritten, but not with intention " to change or modify the
existing declaration of principles, but to reaffirm the same, and
for practical use enunciate the substance thereof in a more
convenient and concise form, with some additional resolutions."
THE NEGROES »8
The questions of co-operation, trade unionism, and politics
received but scant attention. Some consideration was given
to the eight-hour question. The president and the executive
committee were instructed to draft a plan fpr state centralisa-
tion of trade unions for the purpose of enforcing by a general
strike the eight-hour law in States where such a law had been
passed. A committee on the constitution submitted a plan of
organisation with the state labour union as the unit, but the
whole matter was ignored by the convention. Only the prob-
lem of the Negro fared somewhat better ; a permanent commit-
tee was appointed to organise the Negroes in Pennsylvania and
coloured delegates from every State in the union were invited
to come to the next convention. This was doubtless due to the
presence of four Negro delegates, which indicated plainly that
the Negro could no longer be ignored. ^^
98 In the preparation of this section the the main consisted in the passage of a
author has drawn largely from an unpub- resolution condemning anti-conspiracy
lished monograph by H. Gt. Lee, Labor laws; urging affiliated labour organisa-
Organizations Among Negroet. tions to report labour statistics to the exec-
89 The other acts of the convention in utive committee, appointing a committee
NEGRO LABOUR 135
Notwithstanding the efforts of the National Labor Union,
the Negroes chose to organise separately from the whites. The
reasons for this discontent were several, but the chief one was
the " exclusion of coloured men and apprentices from the right
to labour in any department of industry or workshops . . .
by what is known as ' trade unions/ '' ^ Clashes between black
and white labourers were not infrequent during the period of
the sixties.^ When, during the same decade, the Negro began
to invade the trades and superior positions, the opposition to
him was no less strong.^ Numerous instances might be
brought in illustration. The bricklayers' union in Washing-
ton, D. C, forbade their men to work alongside coloured men.
Four white union men were found to be working with some
Negroes on government work, and the union decided unani-
mously to expel them from the union."* A Negro printer,
Louis H. Douglass, in 1869 was refused admission to the local
union in Washington, D. C, in spite of the fact that the con-
stitution made no discrimination against coloured men. This
case attracted great attention, since an appeal taken to the con-
vention of the National Typographical Union had been unsuc-
cessful and consequently offered the Negro workmen an un-
mistakable gauge of the sentiment of organised skilled me-
chanics in the country.'^
Another cause of the separate organisation of the Negroes
was their divergence in interests from the white wage-earners.
Greenbackism and the taxation of government bonds presented
very little interest to them. Instead, they laid emphasis upon
to appeal for funds, one-half of which for the next year, H. J. Walls, secretary;
should go to erect a monument to Sylvia and A. W. Phelps, treasurer,
and one-half to his family ; defending the i Chicago Workingman'a Advocate,
locked-out miners of Pennsylvania and Jan. 1, 1870; Doc. Hist., IX, 250.
charging the mining monopolies, transpor- 2 Fincher's, for July 11, 1863, gives
tation monopolies, and city speculators an account of a bloody fight between white
with responsibility for the high price of and black stevedores in Buffalo. The em-
coal; advocating thorough organisation of ployers attempted to supply the places of
female labour, " the same pay for work the whites by Negro workmen. The fight
equally well done," " equal opportunities resulted in the drowning of two black men,
and rights in every field of enterprise and the killing of another, and the serious
labour " ; demanding eight hours for con- beating of twelve more,
victs and the system of prison labour now 3 Fincher's for Nov. 6, 1865, tells of a
known as " public account " instead of strike of caulkers in Canton, Ohio, against
the contract system; condemning the " al- a Negro foreman.
liance of the Associated Press and the 4 Washington Daily Chronicle, June
Western Union Telegraph Company " ; 19, 1869.
and demanding a government telegraph. 5 Ibid., May 21, 1869. The coloured
Richard Trevellick was elected president convention of the National Labor Union
especially commented upon this case.
136 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
education, and their chief legislative demand was for a liberal
homestead policy in the South for freedmen. To cap it all, the
platform of the National Labor Union was absolute in the
condemnation of the Republican party and advocated inde-
pendent political action. Such a policy not only ran counter
to the sentiment of loyalty felt by the rank and file of the Ne-
groes for the Republican party, but was extremely unsuited to
the ambitious aspirations of the coloured leaders, who, like
their ablest representative, J. M. Langston, a lawyer from
Ohio, staked their future upon the destinies of that party.
The first attempt of the Negroes to organise on a national
scale was at the national coloured convention held in Washing-
ton in January, 1869. It had a large attendance of about 130
delegates, including a large number of politicians and preach-
ers, nearly all from the northern and border States, and was
purely political in its nature. Full confidence was declared
in the Republican party, but provision was made for a na-
tional committee to be composed of one from each State and
territory and for subordinate state committees to " take gen-
eral charge of the interests of the coloured people." Equal po-
litical rights, education, and free land for freedmen were the
only topics discussed. No mention was made of the relation
to white labour.^
The first coloured state labour convention was held in Balti-
more in July, 1869. It appointed a committee to report at
another state convention to be held two weeks thereafter. The
report set forth that in many instances white men refused to
work with Negroes and recommended thorough organisation of
Negro labour throughout the country. The convention ap-
pointed five delegates to the Philadelphia convention of the
National Labor Union and issued a call for a national col-
oured labour convention to be held in Washington in December,
1869. The union of the employes of the Chesapeake Marine
Railway Company in Baltimore, all coloured men, held a meet-
ing in November, endorsed the call for the national convention,
and appointed its secretary as delegate. ''^
The national convention met December 6, attended by 156
delegates from every section of the country. Richard Trevel-
6 Ibid., Jan. 12-16, 1869. 7 Ibid., Nov. 9, 1869.
NEGRO LABOUR UNIONS 137
lick was present on behalf of the National Labor Union. The
object of the convention stated in the call was to " consolidate
the coloured workingmen of the several states to act in co-
operation with onr white fellow workingmen in every state
and territory in the union, who are opposed to distinction in
the apprenticeship laws on account of colour, and to so act co-
operatively until the necessity for separate organisation shall
be deemed unnecessary/' and to petition Congress for the ex-
clusion of contract coolie labour. The politicians in the con-
vention immediately made their presence felt. Langston, of
Ohio, warned the delegates against the white delegates from
Massachusetts (Cummings of the Crispins and several others)
whom he accused of being the emissaries of the Democratic
party. The land question and education were the chief topics,
and Congress was memorialised to pass a special homestead act
for the Negroes in the South. The convention created a col-
oured national labour union with Isaac Myers, a Baltimore
caulker, president, and adopted a lengthy platform. This dif-
fered in many respects from the platform of the white National
Labor Union. It carefully omitted all matters such as green-
backism and taxation of government bonds, taxation of the rich
for war purposes, independent political action, restoration of
civic rights to southerners, which might give offence to the Re-
publican party. It omitted, also, several measures, the im-
portance of which the Negroes did not appreciate, such as the
incorporation of unions, a department of labour, convict labour,
and the solidarity of men and women workers. It gave mere
mention to eight hours and co-operation, but it added with
strong emphasis the demand of equal rights for white and black
labourers to jobs. The two platforms fully agreed that strikes
were useless and that Chinese contract labour should be ex-
cluded.
After the Philadelphia convention in 1869, the National
Labor Union made somewhat slower progress than during the
preceding year. President Trevellick was an excellent agitator
and organiser, but he did not possess that unequalled combina-
tion of breadth of vision and strong practical sense which was
characteristic of Sylvis. He travelled 169 days of the year
in New England, in the Middle States, in the South, and in
138 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
the West; and, accompanied by John Siney, their rapidly ad-
vancing leader, he visited the anthracite miners in Pennsylvania,
who were then on a prolonged and bitter strike for the further
existence of their union.^ As a result of these trips, 127
charters were issued to local organisations, but the finances of
the organisation did not improve.
POLITICS IN MASSACHUSETTS
The centre of independent political action was transferred
during 1869 from the West to the East.^ In Massachusetts
the movement had retained in the person of Ira Steward and
his friends a strong wage-conscious nucleus. Massachusetts was
also the only important section of the nation in which the la-
bour movement came directly in contact with a reform move-
ment of intellectuals. The majority of these intellectuals ad-
vocated Proudhon's scheme of mutual banking and thus were in
closer harmony with the greenbackism of the labour movement
at large than were the followers of Steward. The attendance
at the convention of the New England Labor Reform League,
held in June, 1869, included representatives of both brands of
labour reform. The intellectuals present were Wendell Phil-
lips, Josiah Warren, Ezra A. Hey wood, ^^ E. H. Rogers, Dr.
William H. Channing, Albert Brisbane and John Orvis.^^
The labour representatives were Samuel P. Cummings and
President William J. McLaughlin of the Knights of St. Cris-
pin, Ira Steward, George E. McNeil, Jennie Collins,^^ and
many others.
President Heywood in his opening address laid stress
upon the financial question, and a series of resolutions
8 A brief history of the organisations 11 Orvis had been at Brook Farm and
in that region will be found below, II, was organiser for the Sovereigns of In-
184. These organisations, known as the dustry.
Miners' and Laborers' Benevolent Associa- 12 Jennie Collins of Boston was a young
tions of Luzerne and Schuylkill Counties, woman " of high culture and independent
respectively, showed but little interest in social position " who, in 1868, espoused
the National Labor Union. the cause of women strikers in a textile
0 Congressman Gary of Ohio was de- mill in Dover, N. H., and rallied to their
feated for re-election in 1868. defence the factory women of New Eng-
10 See above, I, 511. Heywood was a land. She succeeded in establishing a
devoted adherent of Josiah Warren, the union of women factory workers, which,
first American anarchist, and took him however, disappeared soon after the un-
into his home in his old age and cared for successful outcome of the strike. (An-
him until his death. Heywood published drews and Bliss. History of Women in
various pamphlets on " mutualism " or Trade Unions, Sen. Doc, 61 Cong., S
anarchism. Bess., Nq, 645, pp. 102, 103.)
MASSACPIUSETTS POLITICS 139
was offered in whicli it was declared that " the use of
one's credit as of his conscience or his vote, is a natural right,
antecedent to, and independent of government," hut that the
government by ^' its claim to dictate the nature and amount
of money, especially to restrict it to gold and silver, naturally
scarce, and easily hoarded, enables the privileged few in control
to make interest and prices high, wages low, and failures fre-
quent, to suit their speculative purposes." The remedy ad-
vanced was the withdrawal of the notes of the national banks
and the substitution of treasury certificates of service, receiv-
able for taxes and bearing no interest ; and the* provision of
free banking in the States, whereby money, based on com-
modities, might be furnished at cost. Declaring the solidarity
of the league with the ^N'ational Labor Union, the resolution
finally declared that " the principles and measures here an-
nounced are no idle theories, but living issues to be made test-
questions at the ballot-box; and whether it may be expedient
to support our friends in either existing party ... we pledge
ourselves to make the interests of labour paramount to all other
considerations in political action." ^^
Such was the position of the large majority of the intellectu-
als. As can readily be seen, their programme was Proudhon's
scheme ^^ of free banking supplemented by the greenbacker's
idea of government money and political action. The league
advocated currency reform in preference to any other reform.
On the other hand. Steward and McNeill moved as a substitute
a resolution declaring that '^ the whole power and strength of
the labour-reform movement should be concentrated upon the
single and simple idea of first reducing the hours of labour, that
the masses may have more time to discuss for themselves all
other questions in labour reform."
Thus the alignment stood: non-wage-conscious currency re-
form versus wage-conscious eight-hour reform. The line was
not, however, drawn strictly, the intellectuals on one side and
the wage-earners on the other. On one hand the wage-earner
element found no less valuable a supporter than Wendell
13 American Workman, June 5, 1S69. Liberty, was a strict follower of P. J.
14 The spiritual heir of these New Eng- Proudhon. He translated What is Prop-
land, intellectuals during the eighties, Ben- erty? by Proudhon into English.
jamin R. Tucker, the editor of the Boston
140 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Phillips; and on the other hand, currency reform was defended
by the representatives of the largest labour organisation then
in existence, McLaughlin and Cununings, of the Crispins. The
representatives of the cotton and woollen operatives and of the
working women's organisations were against the currency issue
and were unanimous for the eight-hour issue.
Three months later, failing in the attempt to swing the
New England Keform League to the side of the eight-hour re-
form, Steward and McNeill established, in August, 1869, the
Boston Eight-Hour League, a direct successor of the defunct
Massachusetts Grand Eight-Hour League. ^^ But the Crispins
were not inclined to espouse the eight-hour cause in Steward's
dogmatic manner. They called a state labour reform conven-
tion on September 9 to lay the foundation of a state labour
party upon a broad programme of labour demands in accord-
ance with the decisions of the recent Philadelphia convention
of the National Labor Union and the recommendations of
the New England Labor Reform League. The Crispin dele-
gates formed an overwhelming part of the well-attended con-
vention. A few delegates from the Amalgamated Ten-Hour
Association, and several intellectuals like Colonel William B.
Greene ^^ and John Orvis were present also. The platform
dealt particularly with demands that were of' vital interest to
the Crispins. It declared that the workingmen ^' will not sup-
port for any public office, candidates who do not unequivocally
recognise the right of associated labour by legislative recogni-
tion and encouragement for all legitimate purposes." The
Crispins had already at the session of the legislature in 1869
presented a bill for incorporation. This was again pressed in
1870 in connection with public hearings where the proposi-
tion was strongly opposed by employers and defeated. ■^'^ The
prominence given to the demand for a favourable incorporation
law is explained in another resolution : " We regard co-opera-
tion in industry and exchange, as the final and permanent
solution of the long conflict between labour and capital."
The argument for incorporation of trade unions, at that time,
15 American Workman, Aug. 21, 1869. Materialistic and Financial Fragment*
16 Greene was a Proudhonist anar- (1875).
chist and published several pamphlets and 17 Am,erican Workman, Mar. 5, 1870,
a book entitled Socialistic, Communistic, gives an extended report of the hearing.
MASSACHUSETTS POLITICS 141
was based on the fact that trade unions were swinging toward
productive co-operation, while " co-operation in exchange " was
simply the co-operative warehouse. An emphatic condemna-
tion of the importation of Chinese coolies and of the existing
contract system in the state penal institutions likewise bear the
earmarks of a strong influence of the Crispins, who were suf-
fering particularly from these evils. The demand for a ten-
hour legal day was put in the platform, but the money ques-
tion was not elaborated, indicating that, although the leaders
of the Crispins were strong advocates of financial reform, the
rank and file were lukewarm toward this measure.
With regard to the immediate formation of a political party,
much opposition had to be overcome. The success of such a
party was viewed with doubt. But it was finally decided in
the affirmative after the proposed name Workingman's party
had been changed to Independent party. A nominating con-
vention was held on September 28, and all but two counties
were represented by 281 delegates. It substantially readopted
the platform of the previous convention, but added a plank
requiring the payment of the national debt in legal tender
money and protesting against the exemption of United States
bonds from taxation. This showed a closer endorsement of the
principles of the I^^ational Labor Union. A full state ticket
of relatively unknown persons was nominated,- headed by E. M.
Chamberlin.
The successful issue of the election proved a surprise to
both foes and friends. An editorial in the ^NTew York World,
then especially friendly to labour, called attention to the fact
that the workingmen without newspaper support and political
skill had, with an organisation but three weeks old, succeeded
in electing twenty-one representatives and one senator, and had
polled a vote of 13,000 in the State, over one-tenth of the total
vote. It added : ^' The parties are so divided there that at
the next election it is probable that the Labor party will be
found to hold the balance of power and to secure the election
of either of the other State tickets by giving it their support.'^ ^®
In a public meeting Cummings, the president of the Labor
party, attributed their success mainly to the financial planks in
18 American Workman, Nov. 20, 1869,
142 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
the platform ; Stillman B. Pratt, a member of the central com-
mittee, stated that the impulse given to the Massachusetts labour
movement by the Philadelphia convention of the National La-
bor Union had accelerated the formation of the Labor party
at least one year.^^
That the political labour movement in Massachusetts had
espoused the cause of financial reform is further attested by the
election of William B. Greene, the money reformer of the
Proudhon stripe, as president of the Massachusetts Labor
Union. McLaughlin, the president of the Crispins, and other
prominent members of the same organisation, were on the ex-
ecutive committee. On the vs^hole, it may be said that the
successful election wsls due to the support of the Crispins, then
in their highest ascendency.
But the success of the party was short-lived. During the
following month the municipal election was held in Boston.
The Labor party nominee, N. G. Chase, ran on a platform
of an eight-hour day for city employes, municipal ownership
of the gas plant, and the speedy payment of the municipal
debt. He was disastrously defeated, polling only 206 votes.
The American Workman said in explanation that "the move-
ment did not spring from the people, in any sense of spontane-
ity. The affair was much less an announcement of principles,
accompanied by a bold and sturdy vindication of the same,
than a game of manipulations in the interest of real or would-be
ward politicians." ^^
The second convention of the Labor Reform Party was
held in Worcester on September 8, 1870. A platform similar
to the one of the previous year was adopted, but with a stronger
type of eight-hour philosophy. An eight-hour day for public
employes was demanded, since that would " establish the pre-
liminary claim necessary to prove finally that they mean a
better paid and better educated labor." ^^ George E. McNeill
was on the committee on resolutions, and this recognition of
Steward's doctrine was doubtless due to his efforts. Wendell
Phillips was nominated for governor by acclamation, but even
his immense popularity was insufficient to resuscitate the move-
19 Ibid., Nov. 13, 1869. 21 American Workman, Sept. 17, 1870.
20 Dec. 25, 1869.
I
MASSACHUSETTS POLITICS 143
ment. The American Workman said in comment upon tlie
outcome of the election: " The campaign of 1870 found one-
third of our original force placed hors de combat by moral
cowardice. We had neither the impetuous enthusiasm of the
young convert, or the trained valour of the veteran." ^^
The prosperity of the early seventies made the time unpro-
pitious for any independent political attempts on the part of
labour. The third convention of the Labour Eeform party
met in South Framingham in September, 1871. Cummings
was temporary, and Wendell Phillips permanent, chairman.
The platform was drawn up in abstract style, and resembled
in its thought as well as phraseology the platforms of the IsTew
England Labor Reform League. The gubernatorial nomina-
tion was contested by Benjamin F. Butler, but Chamberlin was
renominated. In spite of Phillips^ energetic agitation, the
outcome was fruitless. By 1872 the political labour movement
in Massachusetts had dwindled down to two small mutually
hostile groups: the Labor Union led by Phillips, and the
Eight-Hour League led by Steward and McNeill. The bone
of contention was, of course, the eight-hour question. To
Steward this was the only question, but Phillips advocated a
broader programme, with money reform at the head of the list.
Personal criminations and recriminations became frequent.
The bitterness reached its height in July, 1872, when both
organisations held their conventions. A resolution was offered
by Phillips, indorsing the work of the labour bureau and its
chief, General Oliver, but omitting to mention the assistant
chief, MclN'eill. Into this resolution Steward read a sinister
meaning and made Phillips the subject of an unmerciful at-
tack.23
The cheerless result of the political movement caused Phil-
lips to write, in a letter to Holyoake, the British worker for co-
operation: "Your ranks are infinitely better trained than
ours to stand together on some one demand just long enough
to be counted, and so insure that respect which numbers always
22 Ibid., Nov. 19, 1870. We adhere to that advice. No one ac-
2.? Steward said: "In 1R66 he fPhil- counts for his change though manv recog-
lipsl said in Faneuil Hall, 'Don't meddle nise it; and in that change, he has lost
with ethics, don't discuss debts, keep clear the confidence of some of the most thought-
of finance, talk only eight-hours,' and con- ful friends of the movement." Common-
tinued to speak in this strain until 1870. wealth, June 29, 1872.
144 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
command in politics, where universal suffrage obtains." ^'*
The failure of the political movement in Massachusetts was
only a part of the general loss of interest in labour politics
during 1870. But the political activity of labour doubtless
brought the other parties to a keen recognition of the labour
vote. In 1869, Massachusetts created the first bureau of la-
bour statistics and within three years the legislature enacted
the first effective ten-hour law. Massachusetts became the rec-
ognised leader of all American states in labour legislation.
THE CONGRESS OF 1870
The National Labor Union held its fifth convention at
Cincinnati, August 15, 1870. The number of delegates had
fallen from 192 to 96, and the number of organisations repre-
sented from 83 to 76. The stronger political trend is apparent.
State labour unions now numbered 7 ^^ instead of 4 as in
1869, and local labour unions 18 instead of 13. The purely
trade union representation, although it had fallen off numer-
ically from 62 to 41, had rather gained than lost in weight, as
the number of national trade unions remained 3 as before,^^
and the trades' assemblies were increased from 4 to 8.^^ Only
the local trade unions diminished from 53 to 31. In addition
there came 1 delegate from the Agricultural Labor Association
in Virginia, 7 delegates from as many miscellaneous organisa-
tions,^^ and Isaac I. Myers from the national coloured associa-
tion with headquarters in Baltimore.
The Negro question at once supplied a cause for controversy.
A motion was carried to tender S. F. Cary, the ex-labour con-
gressman and a Democrat, the privileges of the floor. Im-
24: Equity, December, 1874. Phillips' lean chiefly on related questions for
philosophy was set forth by him in this growth; limitation of hours is almost the
letter to Holyoake as follows: "But I only special measure."
suppose all this [the political inconsistency 25 New York, California, Massachusetts,
of labour in America] is familiar to you; Kansas, Indiana, Missouri, niinois.
as well as the strength which we expect 26 The Crispins', Molders', and Typo-
from related questions — finances, mode graphical.
of taxation, land tenure, etc. There'll 27 Cincinnati. Syracuse, New York
never be, I believe and trust, a class party (German), Indianapolis, Detroit, New
here, labor against capital, the lines are York, San Francisco, and Newport, Ky.
so indefinite, like dove's neck colors. 28 Among these two co-operative asso-
Three-fourths of our population are to ciations. — coloured teachers' co-operative
some extent capitalists, and again all see association, Cincinnati, and workingmen's
that there really ought always to be alii- co-operative association of Chicago,
ance, not struggle, between them. So we
LABOR CONGRESS, 1870 145
mediately a motion was made to tender the same privilege to
J. M. Langston, the noted coloured lawyer of Ohio and a Ee-
publican office-holder. Troup, of NTew York, and Cummings,
of the Crispins, protested, the latter calling attention to Lang-
ston's endeavours to estrange the coloured labourers from the
whites at the last coloured national convention. After a lengthy
discussion in which the coloured delegates, Weare and Myers,
participated in the defence of Langston, the motion to exclude
him was carried by a vote of 49 to 23.
The Cincinnati convention merits an equal rank in the his-
tory of the National Labor Union with the Baltimore and
Chicago conventions. At Baltimore, the need for independent
political action was first proclaimed, at Chicago the fundamen-
tal principles of the labour platform were formulated, and at
Cincinnati practical steps were finally taken to create the la-
bour party. Cumcmings, of the Crispins, proposed a plan of
separating industrial from political organisations ; the National
Labor Union to remain an industrial organisation and to hold
annual conventions as such, but the president and a committee
of one from each State to call a political convention in order
to complete the organisation of a National Labor party. Op-
position to this proposal came from two sources, for diametri-
cally opposite reasons. The coloured delegates, who were under
the influence of the Kepublicans, opposed it. Weare, the col-
oured delegate from Pennsylvania, argued that no reform move-
ment had ever gained by attempting independent politics, but,
on the contrary, its strength lay in keeping out of party poli-
tics. Isaac Myers, the delegate of the coloured national labour
'Union, stated that all reforms could be obtained through the
Republican party. The Negroes were severely criticised by
Gilchrist, ^^ of Louisville, and by Cameron. The other source
of opposition was among some of the trade unionists. Collins,
of the typographical union, demanded that, if some of the dele-
gates present wanted to organise a labour party, it should be
done wholly independently of this congress, which was, first of
all, a trade imion congress. But the resolution was finally car-
ried by 60 to 5.
Having decided to call a special political convention to form
28 He had been active in the antiwar movement in 1860.
146 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN" THE UNITED STATES
a national labour party, the constitution of the National Labor
Union was modified so as to constitute a purely industrial body.
It provided for the state labour union composed of local la-
bour unions as the basis of the organisation and, to this end,
state organisations were to be organized as speedily as possible.
To conciliate the trade unionists, however, representation was
also allowed to trade unions, national, state, and local. Rev-
enue was to be derived from the state labour unions by ^ an an-
nual tax of 10 cents on each member. It is clear that the or-
ganisation so planned could never become an economic organi-
sation like the present American Federation of Labor, since
the State is not an economic unit. Its highest achievement
would be a forum for the discussion of measures that should
be enacted through the medium of its political counterpart, the
national labour party. This indicates again the grip of the
idea of legislation, to the exclusion of every other idea, on the
minds of the leaders of the National Labor Union.
The resolution favouring active politics cost the National
Labor Union the affiliation of the coloured organization. At
the next and last national coloured convention, confidence was
expressed in the Republican party and total separation from the
white labour movement was declared, for the reason that the
whites '^ exclude from their benches and their workshops worthy
craftsmen and apprentices only because of their colour, for no
just cause." ^^
CHINESE EXCLUSION 3i
Another form of race problem — the Chinese — was dealt
with by the convention of 1870. This question had appeared
at the congress of 1869, but was not then recognised as one of
national importance. When, however, in June, 1870, Chinese
coolies from California appeared as strike-breakers in Massa-
chusetts, the question of Chinese exclusion ceased to be merely
local.32
In California agitation against the Chinese was carried on
simultaneously with the eight-hour movement, but subordinate
to it. There, as in other States, the prosperity of the War had
80 Doc. Hist., IX, 256. feasor Ira B. Cross, of the University of
81 Compiled from manuscript by Pro- California.
32 Doc. Hist., IX, 84-88.
CHINESE EXCLUSION" 147
induced a movement for higher wages. The San Francisco
Trades' Assembly was established in 1863. After the War,
when the soldiers had returned to industry, the California move-
ment had taken up enthusiastically the agitation for the eight-
hour day. A. M. Kenaday,^^ president of the trades' assembly,
went to the capitol at Sacramento in the winter of 1865 in the
interest of an eight-hour law, but the bill failed in the senate
after passing the lower house. President Whaley, of the Na-
tional Labor Union, 1866, appointed Kenaday vice-president
for California, and later, at the convention of 1867 in Chicago,
highly commended his work.
Unlike the East, California did not experience the industrial
depression that came upon the heels of the war prosperity. In
that State, therefore, the trade unions attempted to gain the
eight-hour day through strikes and were eminently successful
in 1867 in the majority of the building trades. Eight-hour
leagues multiplied among the various trades in the early months
of 1867 and operated with such remarkable success that on
June 2, 1867, the San Francisco Morning Call stated that
" despite the existence of eight-hour laws in other communities,
the fact exists that the eight-hour system is more in vogue in
this city than in any other part of the world, although there are
no laws to enforce it."
A workingmen's convention, composed of 140 delegates,
representing the various trades, as well as anti-coolie clubs,
met in San Francisco, March 29, 1867, formulated demands
for a mechanics' lien law, an eight-hour law, and the repression
of coolie labour, and decided to take part in the primary state
election with the object of nominating candidates who favoured
these measures. This move was singularly successful, and at
the session of the legislature in 1868 the eight-hour and me-
chanics' lien laws were passed. The workingmen's convention
had expelled Kenaday from its membership because he advo-
cated its affiliation with the National Labor Union, and the
33 Alexander M, Kenaday was born in prospector, he went to San Francisco and
1829 in Wheeling, W. Va., of Irish par- took up his trade as a printer. After
entage. He learned the printer's trade leaving the labour movement in 1867, he
in St. Louis. He enlisted twice in the devoted his time to the organisation and
Mexican War and distinguished himself management of the National Association
by bravery. After the War he went to of Mexican War Veterans. He died in
California and, having no success as a 1897.
148 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
leadership in the labour movement then passed to A. M. Winn,^*
who was the head and heart of the Mechanics^ State Council
established in August, 1867. This was a non-political organi-
^sation, but was organised primarily for the purpose of question-
ing candidates for legislative offices regarding labour measures.
It was so careful in maintaining its non-political character that
it did not affiliate with the National Labor Union until 1869
for fear of becoming involved in labour politics. It showed,
however, great zeal in securing eight-hour legislation by non-
political methods. Winn went to Washington in 1869 and
spent some months in an unsuccessful effort to secure the
passage of a law which should positively require that all public
work, whether done by the day or under contract, should be
subject to the eight-hour work-day requirement.
Greenbackism and other middle-class philosophies never ac-
quired a foothold in this State. California, having held to
the gold currency, had not experienced the acute depression
which prevailed in the East during 1867 and 1868 as a result
of the contraction of paper currency. The labour movement,
therefore, was not forced to seek succour in co-operation or in
the greenbackism that followed in its wake.
A change for the worse in the industrial situation came in
1869 at the time when the East was recovering from the de-
pression. The opening of the first transcontinental railroad
in that year not only threw many thousands of both Chinese
and whites out of work, but it brought on a local depression by
enabling the cheaper products of eastern manufacture to com-
pete with those of California. Besides, railroad communica-
tions caused a large influx of workingmen from the East. The
depression and the tremendous amount of unemployment in-
creased the demand for Chinese exclusion. The Chinese now
came to be regarded as the supreme cause of unemployment
and of the destitute condition of the white workingmen.
They had first appeared in the mining regions in the early
fifties and the first measures took the form of local expulsion
34 A. M. Winn was a native of Vir- builder and on coming to San Francisco
ginia, and went to Vicksburg, Miss., engaged in the planing mill business and
thence to California in 1848, and was the was comparatively wealthy. He died in
first president of the Sacramento City 1883.
Council. He was a contractor and
CHINESE EXCLUSION 149
from miners' communities. The objections raised against the
presence of the Chinese were the competitive menace of their ex-
tremely low standard of living and their apparent inability to
rise to the American standard. The state legislature was, of
course, powerless under the constitution to prevent Chinese
immigration.
The attitude of California on the Chinese question was re-
flected in the convention of the National Labor Union in 1869.
A. M. Winn represented the California Mechanics' State Coun-
cil, but he had been given little opportunity to impress the Cali-
fornia demand of Chinese exclusion upon the convention. The
committee on coolie labour, with Cameron as chairman, and
the socialist, Adolph Douai, a prominent member, made a re-
port, condemning the importation of contract coolie labour, call-
ing for the rigid enforcement of the law of Congress of 1862
prohibiting coolie importation, but affirming " that voluntary
Chinese emigration ought to enjoy the protection of the laws
like other citizens." The report brought out considerable de-
bate and w^as finally recommitted, three men being added
to the committee: Winn, Cummings, of the Crispins, and Jes-
sup, of the New York Workingmen's Union. The committee,
however, did not report again, and the platform adopted by the
convention contained a plank in the sense of the above report.
The order of the Knights of St. Crispin at this time was
practically the only important labour organisation outside of
the coast region in sympathy with the policy of exclusion.
During a wage dispute with the Crispins, a shoe manufacturer
of North Adams, Massachusetts, had by contract imported from
California — 3,000 miles — seventy-five Chinese to take the
places of the strikers.'^^ The general agitation which this ac-
tion provoked among all classes of labour served to bring the
national labour movement into closer sympathy with the
California point of view. At the next convention of the Na-
tional Labor Union in 1870 the general labour movement
was ready to take the step from merely advocating the prohibi-
tion of Chinese importation to demanding total exclusion.
While the workingmen's sentiment was thus maturing in
this direction, the Burlingame treaty was signed between the
85 Doc. Hist., IX, 84-88.
150 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
United States and China, November 23, 1869. The treaty of
1844, followed by that of 1858, had opened some of the ports
of China to the merchants of the United States and had se-
cured from them the privileges of trade and commerce. In ad-
dition to this, protection was guaranteed the lives and property
of American citizens within that country. The Burlingame
treaty, however, went further and declared that " Chinese sub-
jects visiting or residing in the United States, shall have the
same privileges, immunities and exemptions in respect to travel
or residence as may there be enjoyed by the citizens or the
subjects of the most favoured nation." It was this sentence
which caused the greater part of the trouble in California dur-
ing the next thirteen years.
At the convention in Cincinnati, in 1870, Trevellick in his
presidential address declared against the importation but not
against the free immigration of the Chinese. The committee
on the presidential address refused concurrence on this point
and was sustained by the convention. The spokesman from
California was W. W. Delaney, sent by the Mechanics' State
Council, and he was made chairman of the committee on coolie
labour. The committee's report stated that " the importation
and the present system of the immigration of the coolie labour
in these United States is ruinous to the life principles of our
Republic, destroying the system of free labour which is the
basis of a republican form of government . . . [and further]
that this National Labor Congress demands the abrogation of
the treaty between the United States and China, whereby Chi-
nese are allowed to be imported to our shores."
The debate which followed evinced but little opposition to
the proposed measure. Particularly emphatic in his support
of the report was Cummings, the representative of the Cris-
pins. Even Trevellick changed his original position. The
resolution was adopted and Delaney returned to California well
satisfied with the results of his mission. ^^
Chinese exclusion continued to furnish the sole basis of the
36 Delaney was given a commission to passed resolutions upon the questions of
organise branches of the National Labor labour, capital, land, taxation, and other
Enion in his State, Several such matters, but accomplished nothing vrhatso-
branches were formed during the follow- ever of any importance. In January,
ing year, but were short-lived. They met 1872, the organisation held a state con-
frequently, discussed various issues, and vention in San Francisco, adopted a plat-
CHIlSrESE EXCLUSION 151
California movement during the seventies and early eighties,
until the passage of the Federal Exclusion Act of 1882. The
national labour movement consistently gave California its sup-
port on this momentous problem.
REVIVAL OF TRADE UNIONS
In 18Y0 the conditions surrounding the national labour move-
ment had radically changed. After the law of February, 1868,
prohibiting further contraction of paper currency, industry
began slowly to recuperate, and with this the prospects of suc-
cessful trade union action considerably improved. Added to
this was the fact that practically all of the co-operative ven-
tures had by this time failed, and others, like the co-operative
foundry in Troy, had lapsed into ordinary joint-stock com-
panies. The consequence was a new and vigorous development
of trade unions, accompanied by an aggressive policy towards
employers.
Viewed from the standpoint of the form of organisation, the
revival of trade unionism in 1868 was unlike the revival dur-
ing the time of the War, in that the national trade unions,
and not the trades' assemblies, were now the chief beneficiaries
of the heightened wave of organisation.
The high water mark was reached by the revived trade
union movement in the spring of 1872, when it surpassed by
its universality and uniform success even the movement of
the days of war prosperity. In March, 1872, a vast num-
ber of workingmen of New York City, mostly in the building
trades, struck for the eight-hour day. The number of strikers
was estimated at 100,000. The strike lasted three months and
ended very successfully. The eight-hour day was gained by
the bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, plumbers, painters,
brown and blue-stone cutters, stone-masons, masons' labourers,
paper hangers (when working by the day), and plate prin-
ters.^^ On May 22, 1872, Horace Greeley wrote that the dis-
satisfaction had extended into all the leading mechanical trades,
form, and decided to enter politics. It nomination in 1872, and together they
faithfully supported the national organisa- went down in defeat,
tion in the experiment of the presidential 37 McNeill, The Labor Movement: The
Problem of To-day, 143.
152 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
and in almost every instance the employers had acceded to the
demands of their men.
As trade unionism again came to occupy the foreground
and greenbackism receded to the background, the national trade
unions grew estranged from the National Labor Union.
This expressed itself most conspicuously in the changes in lead-
ership. Sylvis, who combined in himself the business union-
ist and the social reformer, was dead. The older leaders re-
maining, like Trevellick, Hinchcliffe, and Cameron, had be-
come primarily political agitators, and their places at the head
of the aggressive trade union movement were taken by men
like Foran, of the coopers, Saffin, of the moulders, and Siney,
of the miners. These men, although professing faith in co-
operation and greenbackism as a concession to the spirit of the
time, were yet primarily trade unionists. The Bricklayers'
International Union,^^ by its strike in 1868 for the eight-hour
day in New York, had been among the first to show the re-
turning reliance upon strikes. At its national convention in
18T0, it passed a resolution calling upon President O'Keefe
to correspond with the other presidents of national trade unions
with the object of establishing a national labour federation to
consist of national trade unions only.
The breach was made still wider by the fact that the National
Labor Union had finally reached the logical end of its politi-
cal evolution and had become a national labour party. The
cigar makers, in special session in October, 1870, decided to
have no further connection with the National Labor Union,
because it had become " an entirely political institution."
The list of delegates to the National Labor Union in 1871
contained not a single representative of a national trade union.
The workingmen's assembly of New York received from Jessup
" an interesting, and at times highly amusing account of his
experience at the National Labor Congress," held in Cincin-
nati in 1870.3^ As a result, the assembly sent no delegate to
the congress held in St. Louis in 1871.
A notable exception among the national trade unions was
the Order of the Knights of St. Crispin. Co-operation kept
88 At its Washington convention in 39 Chicago Worhinffman'a Advocate,
1869, delegates from 62 unions repre- Feb. 18, 1871.
sented a constituency of 10,000 menabers.
POLITICS 163
alive the interest of the Crispins in the financial question and
made them more amenable to the political influence of the
JSTational Labor Union than the other national labour organi-
sations. As already stated, the Crispins were the main sup-
port of the political movement in Massachusetts, and their lead-
ers, McLaughlin and Cummings, remained true to the labour
reform party as long as it existed.
POLITICS AND DISSOLUTION
The history of the E'ational Labor Union after 1870 de-
serves but scant treatment. The large labour organisations
having seceded, its convention continued to be attended only by
a handful of leaders, like Trevellick, Cameron, Hinchcliffe, and
several others. These had come forward at a time when the
trend of the movement had been predoniinantly legislative and
political, and now continued to travel in the same direction.
As the bona fide labour representatives dropped out, a number
of intellectual and semi-intellectual reformers came into the
National Labor Union. Their presence did more to discredit
the organisation before the labour unions than did its persist-
ent political programme. Most prominent among this element
was Horace H. Day, of Brooklyn, a wealthy man and doubt-
less an aspirant for the presidential nomination of the labour
party. *^
In pursuance of the resolution adopted by the convention
of 1870, President Trevellick appointed a committee to make
plans for the formation of a labour party. This committee
met in Washington in January, 1871, and fixed the rate of
representation in the political convention. Each State was to
be entitled to one delegate for each member of the House of
Representatives and of the Senate, and one delegate was to
be allowed the District of Columbia and each territory. The
convention was set for the third Wednesday of October, 1871,
in Columbus, Ohio, for the purpose of nominating candidates
for president and vice-president of the United States. Mean-
while, the time arrived for the regular convention, which met
August 19, 1871, in St. Louis. The delegates present repre-
40 Ibid., May 11, 1872.
164 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
sented for the most part " labour unions/' i.e., local political
clubs organised by and affiliated with the National Labor
Union. The genuine labour representatives of reputation were
Cameron, Siney, Trevellick, and Ben F. Sylvis — the brother
of William H. Sylvis. The remaining dozen delegates were
either new in the movement or such non-labour reformers as
Horace H. Day, of New York, who represented the financial
reform association of that city. This convention adopted the
suggestion which Cummings of the Crispins had made in 1870,
that of forming a double organisation, one industrial and one
political, entirely distinct from each other, and holding two
conventions, one political and one industrial. The special
nominating convention, which had been set for October, 1871,
was thus made the regular convention of the ^^ political " Na-
tional Labor Union and the date of its meeting was changed
to February 21, 1872.
It met in Columbus on the appointed day. Among the dele-
gates who had attended preceding conventions were Troup, now
of Connecticut; Campbell, Cameron, and Hinchcliffe, of
Illinois ; Cameron, of Kansas ; Chamberlain and Cummings, of
Massachusetts ; Trevellick and Field, of Michigan ; Day, of New
York ; Davis, Fehrenbatch, Lucker, and Sheldon, of Ohio ; Siney
and J. C. Sylvis, of Pennsylvania. Other States represented
were Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, and New Jersey.
Charges were made that control of the convention had been
sought in order to influence the nominations of the Kepublican
and Democratic parties, and that the full delegation from Penn-
sylvania was able to attend ^^ through the courtesy of Thomas
Scott," of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. It was voted
that the delegation from each State should cast the full electoral
vote of each State, on the ground that Pennsylvania and Ohio
had full delegations, while others had not had the facilities or
means of travel. John Siney was elected temporary chairman,
and Edwin M. Chamberlin, of Massachusetts, permanent chair-
man. The platform of preceding years was adopted. Resolu-
tions were offered by John T. Elliott of New York, favouring
government ownership and the referendum, but were voted down.
On the first formal ballot for nomination for president of the
United States, the votes were : Judge David Davis, of Illinois,
POLITICS 155
88 ; Wendell Phillips, 52 ; Governor John W. Geary, of Penn-
sylvania, 45 ; Horace H. Day, of J^ew York, 8 ; Governor J.
Parker, of ^ew Jersey, 7 ; George W. Julian, 7. On the third
hallot Davis was nominated. The nominee for vice-president
was Governor Parker. The platform of the National Labor
Union was adopted as the platform of the l^ational Labor and
Kefonn party. Judge Davis gave a qualified acceptance, but,
after the Democratic convention he declined, explaining his
action as follows: '^Having regarded that movement as the
initiation of a policy and purpose to unite the various political
elements in a compact opposition, I consented to the use of my
name before the Cincinnati (Democratic) convention, where a
distinguished citizen of 'New York (Horace Greeley) was nom-
inated." A meeting of the executive committee at Columbus
in August decided it was too late to renominate candidates.*^
This unfortunate experiment practically ended the existence of
the N'ational Labor Union.* ^ The Industrial Congress, which
was to be the economic branch of the !N"ational Labor Union,
met at Cleveland, September 16, with only seven persons pres-
ent, Trevellick, Cameron, Poran, J. C. Sylvis, Sheldon, Pay,
and Manly.
4iChicago Workingman's Advocate, vention and that it had nevertheless had
Aug. 25, 1871. the warm adherence of men as prominent
42 A discussion in the columns of the in their respective national trade unions
Chicago Workingman's Advocate in Feb- as Sylvis and his opponent, Walls him-
ruary, 1873, throws light upon the rela- self, of the molders, Kirby and Browning,
tions between the national trade unions of the bricklayers, Trevellick, of the ship
and the National Labor Union. H. J. carpenters and caulkers, Jessup, of the
Walls, a national officer of the iron mold- New York State Workingmen's Assembly,
era' union, stated in an open letter to Siney, of the miners, and a score of other
Cameron that the cause of the withdrawal prominent trade union leaders. Cameron
of the national trade unions was the fact was undoubtedly right, because the Na-
that the National Labor Union had be- tional Labor Union, while composed, up
come, after the Cincinnati convention, a to 1870, of industrial organisations, had
political organisation. Cameron replied in never been an industrial organisation it-
the next issue that it had been a political self. It was legislative and political,
organisation from the first Baltimore con-
CHAPTER V
DISINTEGRATION, 1873-1877
Industrial Congress and Industrial Brotherhood, 1873-1875. Fresh im-
pulse towards national federation, 157. Joint call by the national unions,
157. Guarantee against politics, 158. The circular, 158. The Cleveland
Congress, 159. Representation, 159. The trade union nature of the pro-
ceedings, 159. The constitution, 160. Attitude towards co-operation, 161.
Attitude towards politics, 161. Effect of the financial panic on the new-
federation, 161. The Congress in Rochester, 161. Representation and the
secret orders, 162. Debate on the constitution, 162. The minority recom-
mendation of secret organisation, 163. Defeat of secrecy, 163. The In-
dustrial Brotherhood, 163. The Preamble, 164. Robert Schilling, 164.
The money question, 164. Arbitration, 165. Other demands, 165. Politics,
165. The Congress in Indianapolis, 166. The dropping out of the national
trade unions, 166. The new constitution with organisation by States as its
basis, 167. End of the Industrial Brotherhood, 167.
Greenback Party, 1874-1877. Patrons of Husbandry, 168. The anti-
monopoly political movement, 168. The Indianapolis convention, 168.
Cleveland convention of farmers and mechanics, 109. " Independent " or
Greenback party, 169. Anti-monopoly convention, 169. National conference
in Cincinnati, 169. Fusion wnth the Greenback party, 169. The nominating
convention of 1876, 170. The representation, 170. Greenbackism — a rem-
edy against depression, 170. Peter Cooper's candidacy, 171. The campaign,
171. Results, 171.
Sovereigns of Industry. Co-operation, East and West, 171. William
H. Earle, 172. Elimination of the middleman, 172. Constitution of the
Sovereigns of Industry, 173. Membership, 1874-1877, 173. Activities,
174. Relation to trade unions, 174. Relation to the Industrial Congress,
175. Failure of the Sovereigns of Industry, 175.
National and Local Unions. Weak points in the trade unions of the
sixties, 175. The depression, 175. Labour leaders and politics, 175. West-
ward migration, 176. Decrease in membership, 1873-1874, 176. The
trades' assembly, 177. The cigar makers' strike against the tenement house
system, 177. Strikes in the textile industry, 178. Amalgamated Associa-
tion of Iron and Steel Workers, 179. The trade agreement, 179. Bitumi-
nous coal miners' organisation, 179. John Siney, 179. Mark Hanna, 180.
The trade agreement, 180. The umpire's decision in 1874, under the trade
agreement, 180. Failure of the agreement, 180.
The Molly Maguires. Trade unionism versus violence, 181. Ancient
Order of Hibernians, 182. Influence over local politics, 183. Crimes of
the Mollies, 183. James McParlan, 184. The "long strike," 184. The
wrecking of the union, 185. Growth of the influence of the Mollies, 185.
Arrest and trial of the Mollies, 185.
166
INDUSTRIAL CONGRESS, 1873 157
The Great Strikes of 1877. Reduction in wages of the railwaymen, 185.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 185. The Trainmen's Union, 186.
Robert H. Ammon, 186. The plan for a strike, 187. Failure, 187. Un-
organised outbreak, 187. Martinsburg and Baltimore riots, 187. Pitts-
burgh riots, 188. State militia, 189. Federal troops, 190. Eflfect of the
strikes on public opinion, 190. Effect on subsequent court decisions in
labour cases, 191.
INDUSTRIAL CONGRESS AND INDUSTRIAL BROTHER-
HOOD, 1873-1875
The disintegration of the National Labor Union did not
end the effort to form a national federation. Shortly after the
panic of 18Y3 a fresh attempt was made. It came from the
national trade unions, which, having withdrawn from the Na-
tional Labor Union at the time when it resorted to politics, now
proceeded to evolve a national federation. This was the first
appearance of an organisation similar in object and structure
to the present American Federation of Labor, l^ational trade
unions were its basic units, and it was economic in character,
but with legislative demands.
On May 3, 1873, a call appeared in the Worhingmans Ad-
vocate, signed by William Saffin, president of the Iron Molders'
International Union; by John Fehrenbatch, president of the
Machinists' and Blacksmiths' International Union; by M. A.
Foran, president of the Coopers' International Union; and by
John Collins, secretary of the International Typographical
Union. It called attention to the " rapid and alarming con-
centration of Capital, placed under the control of a few men,"
and to the fact that " almost the entire legislation of the coun-
try, both state and national, is in the interest of this concen-
trated capital, giving it almost imperial powers," a development
which the authors declared was causing " a rapid decrease of
our power as Trade Unions in comparison with that of Cap-
ital." " Already the farmers of the West and I^orthwest," the
call continued, '^ are driven to desperation by the bold, bare-
faced robbery of the fruits of their industry by legalised mo-
nopoly, and have organised powerful State organisations," but
the trade unions still remain disunited. " Let not the failures
of the past deter us from making renewed efforts, but profiting
by our dear bought experience build up and perfect an organi-
sation such as was contemplated in Baltimore in WQQ,^' The
158 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
call further extended the invitation to " every Trade organisa-
tion in the United States, be it local, state, or (Inter) National,
and every anti-monopoly, co-operative, or other association or-
ganised on purely protective principles, to send bona fide dele-
gates to a Convention to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 15th
day of July, 1873." The signers pledged themselves " that the
organisation, when consummated, shall not, so far as in our
power to prevent, ever deteriorate into a political party, or
become the tail to the kite of any political party, or a refuge
for played out politicians, but shall to all intents and purposes
remain a purely Industrial Association, having for its sole and
only object the securing to the producer his full share of all he
produces."
Another circular ^ addressed " To the Organized Workingmen
of the United States " presented a list of grievances of labour
as viewed by the signers of the original call. " We desire it
distinctly understood that we have no Agrarian ideas ; we neither
believe or preach the doctrine that capital is robbery." All
connection with the " Commune " was likewise disclaimed.
While having no plan of action to dictate, the signers declared
the following as the causes of their evil condition: The law,
instead of fostering trade unions, treats them as conspiracies;
while wages of labour are being reduced on the plea that the
supply thereof far exceeds the demand, the country is slowly
but surely being overrun by imported Chinamen, brought here
in vessels subsidised by the general government ; labour has not
benefited from the improvement in machinery, but it has suf-
fered from increased unemployment, because the " same number
of hours must be worked to-day that were worked in a day
thirty years ago " ; the growth of huge monopolies has put re-
strictions upon the channels of trade with the result that the
cost of living has risen ; labour has no reliable information about
its condition, such as would be furnished by a Federal bureau
of statistics.
The other points which the circular mentioned briefly were
that " co-operation has no legal recognition or assistance,"
that the " country is without an apprentice system," and that
consideration should be given to arbitration.
1 Chicago Workingman's Advocate, Jiily 5, 1873.
INDUSTRIAL CONGRESS, 1873 159
The circular was clearly a trade union document. Financial
reform was not even mentioned, and co-operation received only
slight attention. The officers of the four national unions in-
tended to establish an organisation on strictly trade union prin-
ciples.^
The congress met July 15 ^ with 70 delegates present. Six
national trade unions were represented : the coopers' by 13 dele-
gates (For an, Schilling and Pope coming from the Interna-
tional Union) ; the machinists' and blacksmiths' by 20 (Fehren-
batch, Bucholtz and McDevitt from the International Union) ;
the iron moulders by 5 (Saffin from the International) ; the
Sons of Vulcan 4 (Hugh McLaughlin from the Grand Forge) ;
and the Knights of St. Crispin by 2 (William Salter from the
Grand Lodge).
The other trade unions which were represented, though not
nationally, were the miners, numbering 5 delegates under the
leadership of John Siney; 2 typographical local unions, 1 of
cigarmakers, and 1 tobacco workers' union. No less than 5
trades' assemblies sent delegates: Columbus, Cleveland, In-
dianapolis, and 2 minor cities. The representation of the la-
bour unions, the creatures of the old National Labor Union,
numbered only 5, 1 of which was the National Labor Reform
Union, Plymouth, Pennsylvania, and another, the Tennessee
State Labor Union. The congress also seated a delegate from
the Pittsburgh National Protective League. And, finally, the
old leaders, Cameron and Trevellick, were, without much en-
thusiasm and without a vote, admitted to seats. They, how-
ever, took little part in the proceedings, as the congress was
clearly under the domination of the purely trade union leaders.
The opening address made by Foran reiterated the ideas ex-
pressed in the call, and, by electing Fehrenbatch as permanent
chairman, the congress organised for work. The proceedings
resembled more a convention of the later American Federation
of Labor than a convention of the old National Labor Union.
The list of questions as outlined in the circular was fully dis-
cussed and little time was given to non-trade-union questions.
2 The old leaders, like Cameron and 3 " Official Proceedings," given in Chi-
Trevellick, took scant part in the move- cago WorJeinff man's Advocate, July 26,
ment. Cameron, though not openly con- 1873.
demning the plan, was lukewarm in his
praise.
160 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Arbitration was recommended to the trade unions as a sub-
stitute for strikes, a vigorous anti-contract immigration reso-
lution was adopted, the abrogation of the Burlingame treaty
with China was urgently demanded, and the contract system of
prison labour was condemned. On the apprenticeship ques-
tion the report of the committee was adopted, which recom-
mended that a committee be appointed to correspond with the
officers of the national trade unions and with firms employing
apprentices, and to report at the next congress. The demand
for a general eight-hour day was reiterated, without specifying,
however, whether it was to be attained by legislation or by trade
union action ; and, finally, the establishment of a national labour
bureau was urged.
The trade union character of the congress is best shown, how-
ever, by the constitution. It provided that '^ whenever the
President of this Congress has been officially notified of the
existence of a difficulty between Labor and Capital, which has
resulted in a strike, or lock-out, and has evidence that the labour
interests have endeavoured by arbitration to settle such difficulty,
it shall be his duty, if assistance is required, to lay the facts by
circular, before the various Trade and Labor LTnions of the
Country, calling upon them for pecuniary assistance, sufficient
to sustain the Labor so striking, or on lock-out." The dom-
inance of the national trade unions over the federation being
practically assured, the constitution liberally provided also for
the representation of the other types of labour organisations, as
follows : " Every International or National Organisation shall
be entitled to three representatives; State or Local Trade As-
semblies, to two ; Trade Unions and all other protective organi-
sations of labour to one each, provided that representatives shall
derive their election direct from the organisations they claim to
represent, and are members thereof, except where a delegate is
elected at a joint meeting of two or more organisations, but no
delegate shall be entitled to more than one vote." The revenue
of the federation was to be derived from a 2 cent per capita
tax upon local organisations, an annual tax of $10 each upon
national organisations and a fee of $5 upon each new charter
issued to a subordinate organisation.
\ Further to accentuate the trade union nature of the congress.
INDUSTKIAL CONGEESS, 1873 161
co-operation was given but a brief endorsement, and the finan-
cial plank in the platform, embodying the interconvertible bond
and paper money system, was put in only after a heated debate
and a roll call. The congress was wage^conscious in its pro-
gramme for action, but it still chose to give indorsement to a
set of non-wage-conscious principles, provided they ^ere rele-
gated to a purely theoretical position.
True to the pledge of the signers of the call, the congress
adopted a negative attitude towards independent political ac-
tion. The platform declared that, " while we recognise in the
ballot-box an agency by which these wrongs can be redressed
when other means fail, yet the great desideratum of the hour
is the organisation, consolidation, and co-operative effort of the
producing masses, as a stepping stone to that education which
will in future lead to more advanced action, through which the
necessary reforms can be obtained."
The officers elected for the year were Eobert Schilling, of
the Coopers' International Union, Cleveland, president; S.
Keefe, of the Philadelphia Coopers' Union, secretary; and
James A. Atkinson, of the Cleveland Iron Holders' Union,
treasurer.
Had industrial prosperity continued, the new federation un-
doubtedly would have attained an important place in the labour
movement, but having been launched only two months before the
panic and the ensuing depression, it was doomed to failure.
During the nine-month interval between this and the next con-
gress,^ charters were issued to only 13 mixed local unions (in-
dustrial unions), to 2 city councils (industrial councils), and
to 2 small national trade unions, the Associated Brotherhood of
Iron and Steel Heaters, and the Rollers', Roughers', Catchers',
and Hookers' E'ational Association. The heaters' organisation
was the only one that availed itself of the right granted by the
constitution to apply for a circular in aid of a strike, but was
denied assistance, as it had not complied with the provision
concerning arbitration.
J^evertheless, the national trade unions, which had called the
congress into existence, still retained a sufficient interest in
the matter to be represented by delegates in the next congress,
4 " Official Proceedings," given in Chicago Workingman's Advocate, Apr. 25,
1874.
162 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
which met in Kochester, "New York, April 14, 1874. The ma-
chinists' and blacksmiths' union was represented by President
Fehrenbatch and 2 more delegates, while 17 local unions sent
12 delegates; the Coopers' International Union, by 3, of whom
Schilling was 1, and by delegates from 5 locals; the recently
organised Grand Division Conductors' Brotherhood, by 5 dele-
gates. William Saffin and John Siney, presidents respectively
of the Iron Molders' International Union and of the Miners'
I^ational Association, were admitted to seats. The trades' as-
semblies of Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Rochester
were represented, as weU as the Labor Council of Boston,
by George E. Mcll^eill, the Workingmen's Central Council of
!N'ew York, by George Blair, later a prominent Knight of
Labor, and the Industrial Council of Cuyahoga County
[Cleveland], by 2 delegates. Eighteen local trade unions, be-
sides those above mentioned, were represented by delegates, and
2 secret organisations, the Industrial Brotherhood, by A. War-
ner St. John, of Missouri, Horace H. Day, of New York, and
Drew, of New Jersey (who represented also the Patrons of
Husbandry) ; and the Sovereigns of Industry, by 4 delegates,
of whom President W. H. Earle of Massachusetts was the spokes-
man in the conference. Finally, the ever faithful A. C. Came-
ron was admitted to a seat without a vote.
The differences at the congress arose in the debates on the
constitution. The trade unionists wanted the strictest possible
exclusion of all non-trade-union elements. Thus A. M. Winn,
president of the Mechanics' State Council of California, in a
communication criticised the old constitution as throwing the
doors wide open to all industrial organisations. He advocated
national organisation of mechanics and miners, to which state
councils, assemblies, and other state representative bodies and
all orders of mechanics could send delegates, provided they
endorsed the constitution and paid fees. The latter provision
was intended to prevent the creation of organisations for po-
litical emergencies. H. J. Walls, of the Molders' Interna-
tional Union, sent in a communication, also favouring restric-
tion to " state representatives and delegates from National and
International Trade Organisations " which endorsed the con-
stitution, with the main object of organising local trades' as-
IKDUSTRlAL CONGRESS, 1874 U^
semblies and local unions of the several trades.^ President
Schilling, on the other hand, in his report favoured an organisa-
tion similar to the Patrons of Husbandry with beneficial fea-
tures and secrecy, and an " intimate co-operation with the Farm-
ers^ movement." He was not at all afraid of political action,
which he held to be " indispensably necessary," and he affirmed
the need of a " redoubled emphasis " on the financial plank —
a programme altogether different from the trade union pro-
gramme of the congress of the year before.
The committee on constitution handed in two reports, a ma-
jority report signed by George E. McNeill, George Blair, and
M. H. Smith, and a minority report signed by W. H. Earle.
The majority report proposed to retain temporarily the present
constitution with some changes, but recommended the appoint-
ment of a new committee of seven, composed " of the President
of the Congress, two presidents of international unions, two of
national trades unions, and two persons not members of trades
unions, who shall prepare a definite plan of organisation, with
constitution and by-laws for national and State Congresses and
subordinate industrial unions." The minority report recom-
mended a secret organisation on the pattern of the Patrons of
Husbandry and pointed to the order of the Sovereigns of In-
dustry as meeting these requirements. It advised the merging
of the Industrial Congress with that organisation. Prolonged
debate occurred, in which Earle defended his proposition, and
St. John explained at length the objects of the Industrial
Brotherhood. Schilling, although favouring the model of the
Patrons of Husbandry, opposed the merging of the Congress
with any organisation, and was supported by Siney. EinaUy,
the majority report was substantially adopted and the following
were named on the committee : Fehrenbatch, Eoran, Cannon,
James, Earle, St. John, and Beck.
The Sovereigns of Industry remained dissatisfied with this
decision. On the other hand, the representatives of the In-
dustrial Brotherhood ® agreed to fuse their organisation with
the congress and they contributed its name and ritual,*^ so that
5 He stated that the number of trade had at the time about forty branches in
unionists in the country was " not less existence. Thirty Years of Labor, 120.
than 200,000." 7 Ibid., 120-123.
a Powderly states that the Brotherhood
164 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN" THE UNITED STATES
when the constitution was printed it bore the name of the " In-
dustrial Brotherhood."
.But if the delegates at the congress had vague ideas as to how
the labour movement should be organised in order to attain its
demands, there existed no such indefiniteness as to the nature
of the demands themselves. The " Preamble " to the " Indus-
trial Brotherhood/' drawn up by Kobert Schilling, stated so
fully the demands of labour at that period that it was later
adopted, with some modifications, by the Knights of Labor at
their first national convention (General Assembly) in 1878.
The declaration of principles referred to " the recent alarm-
ing development and aggression of aggregated wealth," and the
imperative necessity of a system which could ^' secure to the
labourer the fruits of his toil." The organisation and direction,
by co-operative efforts, of the power of the producing masses
for their substantial elevation, was regarded as " the great
desideratum of the hour," yet the ballot-box was recognised as
the great agency through which wrongs could be redressed.
The objects of the Industrial Congress were submitted to the
people of the United States as follows: thorough organisation
of every department of productive industry, a just share of the
wealth created, more leisure, the establishment of national and
state bureaus of labour statistics, the establishment of pro-
ductive and distributive co-operative institutions, the public
lands for actual settlers, the abrogation of class legislation, the
removal of unjust technicalities and delays in the administration
of justice, measures for the promotion of safety and
health, monthly wage payments, wage-lien laws, the aboli-
tion of the contract system on public work, a system of public
markets, cheap transportation, the substitution of arbitration
for strikes, the prohibition of the importation of servile races,
equitable apprentice laws, abolition of convict contract labour,
equal pay for equal work, the eight-hour day, and finally a na-
tional greenback currency issued directly to the people and in-
terchangeable for government bonds bearing not over 3.65 per
cent interest.
As at the preceding congress, the money question was the
cause of a prolonged and heated debate. The wage-conscious
McNeill opposed the adoption of greenbackism as being ex-
INDUSTEIAL BROTHEEHOOD 165
traneous to the labour movement. But the congress was over-
whelmingly in favour of greenbackism, and the financial plank
was adopted by all but two votes (Stevens, of New York, and
MoNeill).
The other important resolutions advocated voluntary arbi-
tration between employers and employes, but stated that " it
would be imprudent at present to advocate the passage of a
law in Congress, making it compulsory for employers and em-
ployes to settle their grievances by arbitration alone '' ; de-
manded the enforcement of the eight-hour law for government
employes and shorter hour legislation, for, the resolution said,
^' factory operatives, the employes of steam and horse-railroad
companies, steam-boat companies, saloons and places of amus^
ment, clerks in stores and others, can only secure the reduction
of their excessive hours of labour by effective legislation " ; de-
manded abolition of the contract system on government work,
and the right of incorporation for trade unions; urged the
granting of a national charter to the moulders' union, which
had applied for it to Congress ; recommended to the constituent
organisations that they should make temperance a condition of
admission (a resolution adopted as a substitute to one which
apparently endorsed prohibition) ; opposed the importation of
Chinese and other servile labourers, ^' making importation a
criminal offence," and demanded the ^^ repeal of the Burlingame
treaty " and the withdrawal of the subsidy to the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company; and finally advocated bureaus of labour
statistics.
On the important question of political action the congress
resolved to disregard all claims of political parties and to vote
" only for those persons who agree with us in our principles.''
Robert Schilling was re-elected president; A. W. St. John,
J. H. Wright, T. C. Clarkson, Christopher Kane and 0. F.
Powers, vice-presidents; Byron Pope, secretary; and P. K.
Walsh, treasurer.
After the congress adjourned. Schilling sent a circular to
" all labour organisations " announcing that '^ an organisation
among workingmen somewhat similar to that of the Grangers
had been provided for," urging the call of mass meetings to
protest '' against the action of United States Supervising Archi-
166 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
tect Mullett in virtually making the eight-hour law a dead let-
ter '' and particularly to bring the financial resolution of the
Industrial Congress before the people. He also selected a list
of deputies for each State to carry on the work of organisation
for the Industrial Brotherhood, among whom we find the name
of Terence V. Powderly,^ a machinist, recommended to Schilling
by Fehrenbatch to take the place of Siney, resigned.
But the trade unions — national as well as trades' assemblies
— were in no condition to heed the appeal of the Industrial
Congress. The unprecedented depression brought on a simul-
taneous struggle for life all along the lines of organised labour.
The trade unions were obliged to strain all their efforts to re-
sist the cuts in wages which followed one another in close suc-
cession, and naturally all attempts at such a time to secure a
na^tional federation were bound to fail. This applied with
additional strength to the Industrial Congress with its unfin-
ished constitution and undecided programme of action. At the
next and last congress,^ which met in Indianapolis, April 13,
1875, we find that the national trade unions and the trades'
assemblies, with the exception of the International Typo-
graphical Union, were unrepresented, and that the twenty-three
delegates present came either from the " industrial unions " or
" industrial councils " created by the national organisation.
Schilling and Cameron were the only prominent leaders
among the delegates. The president, Jackson H. Wright
(Robert Schilling having resigned), opened the congress and
especially advocated arbitration and resistance to conspiracy
laws " now so much resorted to " ; he favoured non-partisan po-
litical action, co-operation, regulation of apprenticeship and
technical education, and bureaus of statistics, and commented
on the " terrible condition of the industrial world."
The preamble and platform remained essentially the same,
with the addition chiefly of a plank condemning the use of the
militia during labour disputes. The adoption of a constitution
was the main work of the congress. The committee appointed
at the Rochester Congress reported that it found " that a uni-
fication of the existing labor organisations was an impossibility,
8 This appointment marked the first ap- » " OflScial Proceedings," given in Ohi-
pearance of Powderly as an organiser in cago Workinffman'a Advocate, Apr. 24,
the labour movement. 1875.
GEEENBACKISM 167
as none of the organizations represented had instructed their
delegates in this respect, and for other reasons obvious to all
who will investigate the matter closely." In consequence it
prepared an entirely new constitution which could be adopted
by the organisations in existence. The committee then out-
lined a plan, with the state organisation as the basic unit and
with city and county industrial councils subordinate to it.
It was, however, stipulated that each national trade union
might elect a special secretary to look after its interests in the
congress. This constitution was adopted and the congress ad-
journed, having previously adopted a series of resolutions ; one
designating July 4, 1876, as the date for the eight-hour system
to go into effect by a " united movement on the part of the work-
ing masses of the United States '' ; another requesting aid for
the striking anthracite miners and Sons of Vulcan ; still another
instructing the executive committee to correspond with the head
officers of labour organisations throughout the world ; and finally
one designating arbitration and co-operation as " subjects for
special discussion and action at the next session of the Indus-
trial Congress." A set of officers was elected with Jackson H.
Wright, of Ohio, president, and an executive board composed
of Cameron, Schilling, Ben Johnson, of Pennsylvania, H. J.
Walls, of Ohio, and James Connelly, of New York.
There is no evidence that the organisation continued to exist
after this congress. In 1876 at Pittsburgh, another attempt
was made toward the unification of the labour movement, but
it came from a different source and belongs to the events of the
succeeding period. Thus, in the period of long and severe
depression the attempt to form a national federation of trade
unions terminated as did the I^ational Labor Union. It gave
way to a new form of greenbackism.
THE GREENBACK PARTY, 1874-1877 10
With the rapid disintegration of trade unions during 1874
and 1875, the initiative of a political party had to come from
another and more self-confident factor. This was the inde-
pendent political organisation of the farmers.
10 In the preparation of this section the graph by Louis Mayer, The Greenback
%. author drew from an unpublished mono- Labor Movement, 1874-1884.
168 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Growing out of the agitation conducted by the Patrons of
Husbandry there arose by 1874, in many States, farmers^
parties, known variously as " anti-monopoly '' or " reform " or
" independent " parties. These were playing an important
part in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Iowa, and California and, to a lesser degree, in Kansas, !Ne-
braska, Oregon, and Michigan. In only two states, Indiana
and Illinois, did the movement rest upon the principle of green-
backism, in the other States it was directed against railroad and
warehouse monopolies. However, the continued depression,
which affected agriculture and other industries alike, turned
attention to the prospects of a national greenback party, and
the convention of the farmers' party in Indiana, August 12,
1874, issued an invitation for a national conference to meet in
Indianapolis in November.
Among the labour men invited were A. C. Cameron; Alex-
ander Troup, then editor of the New Haven Union; Kobert
Schilling, president of the Coopers' National Union; Richard
Trevellick ; J. H. Wright, president of the Indianapolis Trades'
Assembly and of the National Industrial Congress ; and finally
Horace H. Day, the philanthropic labour reformer, formerly
active in the National Labor Reform party.
The conference met November 25. It was presided over by
James Buchanan, an Indianapolis lawyer who was to play a
prominent part in the greenback movement throughout its dura-
tion. All but four people in attendance came from Indiana.
From among the labour men only Schilling and Day were
present.
For a preliminary national convention to be held early the
next year at Cleveland, the conference formulated a ^' basis of
union," which exclusively dealt with the money question. It
declared that " the solution of the money question more deeply
affects the material interests of the people than any other ques-
tions in issue before the people," demanded the payment of the
national debt in greenbacks, and the issue of interconvertible
legal tender currency and bonds bearing not more than 3.65
per cent per annum.
A committee on organisation was appointed consisting of
two labour men. Schilling and Trevellick (the latter being ab-
GEEENBACKISM 169
sent), and of a member of the executive committee of the Illinois
State Farmers' Association. ^Notwithstanding this, Horace H.
Day protested that the conference was not sufficiently repre-
sentative of labour, and withdrew. He was apparently already
laying plans for the conference of farmers and mechanics, which
came together as a result of his efforts a year later.
The convention met in Cleveland on March 11, 1875. It
contained representatives from every State in the region bounded
by the Hudson, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, and in addition
also from Virginia, West Virginia, Iowa, and Missouri. The
platform was not altered. The name " Independent " was de-
cided upon for the new party, and it retained that name,
formally, till 1878. It was from the first, however, known as
the Greenback party. The labour men present were Cameron,
Schilling, J. H. Wright, McDevitt fa prominent member of
the Machinists' and Blacksmiths' Union), Foran (formerly
president of the Coopers' Union, now a lawyer), John Siney
(president of the Miners' IN'ational Association), Reverend H.
O. Sheldon, of Oberlin, Ohio, one of the three men who had
attended every national labour congress since 1866, and finally
a j^egro, C. W. Thompson, member of the Tobacco Laborers'
Union of Richmond, Virginia. It is significant that practically
all of these were labour leaders whose organisations had gone
to pieces. Siney and another less important labour man, who
was absent, were elected on the executive committee.
The " anti^monopoly " convention called by Horace Day met
at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1875. It was made up
of " representatives from all the labour organizations of 'New
York and Pennsylvania, including the Grangers and retail coal
dealers," ^^ 256 in all. It decided to call a national conference
of representatives to assemble about the first of July from all
parts of the country. It was agreed to leave to the conference
itself whether it should organise a new political party or confine
its actions to other matters in order to promote the interests of
American workingmen.
This conference assembled in Cincinnati, in September, the
labour reformers attending in force. Siney was chosen chair-
man. The platform adopted did not differ materially from the
11 New York Timea, Mar. 4, 1875.
170 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
one adopted by the Independent party at Cleveland ; it omitted
the plank no longer an issue which declared against the granting
of the public lands to any but actual settlers, but included a
plank opposing the granting of any privileges to corporations.
In addition, it contained a plank that was to be incorporated in
every greenback platform until 1879 — a demand for the im-
mediate repeal of the specie payment act which had been passed
January 14, 1875.
The main discussion turned on whether a new party should
be formed or whether fusion should be effected with the Inde-
pendent party. Day represented the former view, and Siney
and Schilling, the latter. Schilling's resolution providing for
fusion was adopted. Thereupon Day withdrew and did not
afterwards take part in the greenback movement. The fusion
was effected, and a call was issued for a national convention to
be held in Indianapolis the following May.-^^
The convention met on May 17, 1876. Trevellick, Troup,
and Hinchcliffe were the only labour representatives who took
part. The proceedings were opened by Moses Field, a wealthy
Detroit manufacturer, who had served in the House of Repre-
sentatives on the Democratic side. Ignatius Donnelly was tem-
porary chairman; Thomas Durant, of Washington, D. C, a
lawyer and former Republican politician, was permanent chair-
man; Wallace P. Groom, editor of the New York Mercantile
Journal and a personal representative in the convention of Peter
Cooper, was secretary ; while S. M. Smith, of the Illinois State
Farmers' Association, was acting chairman. This list gives a
fair idea of the composition of the convention — farmers, law-
yers, and a few labour leaders, with a sprinkling of former old
party politicians.
The platform adopted is unmistakable evidence that the
greenbackism professed by the party was different from that
of the National Labor Union. Instead of a remedy against
the exploitation of the " producing classes " by " capital " it
became a plan to relieve the industrial depression. It primarily
concerned itself, not with the rate of interest on money bor-
rowed, but with the general level of prices. The Independent
party declared for the immediate and unconditional repeal of
12 Chicago Workingman'e Ad/vocate, Dec. 4, 1875.
SOVEREIGNS OF INDUSTRY 171
the specie resumption act and against the policy of contraction of
the greenbacks. The belief is also again expressed that intercon-
vertible " United States notes will afford the best circulating
medium ever devised." The emphasis on specie resumption
was made largely through the efforts of Groom, who carried a
promise of financial assistance to the party from Peter Cooper. ^^
Peter Cooper was chosen presidential candidate of the In-
dependent party. ^* For vice-president the convention nom-
inated Newton Booth, senator from California, a Greenback-
Democrat, who declined, and in his place the national execu-
tive committee chose General Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio, the
former congressman supported by the National Labor Union.
The national campaign was not conducted with vigour. The
party had little organisation and no funds except a sum of
money contributed by Cooper. No attempt was made to in-
terest labour organisations. In addition to the national ticket,
there were state tickets in every State north of the Virginia
line, except Rhode Island and Colorado. Congressional candi-
dates were nominated in thirty-six widely scattered districts.
The total vote cast in the election was about 100,000, and
came practically from rural districts. The largest state vote,
17,233, was in Illinois, but only 684 were cast in the counties
where the larger cities were located. The aggregate vote in
Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Minne-
sota, Missouri, and West Virginia was 63,000. As yet, labour
was indifferent to third-party politics.
THE SOVEREIGNS OF INDUSTRY
The order of the Sovereigns of Industry was the form as-
sumed by the co-operative movement in the seventies. Unlike
the movement during the later sixties, it took for its starting
13 Pomeroy's Democrat, Sept. 22, 1877. ested in the free education of the working
1* He was born in New York City in class, he gave the money for and laid the
1791 and started his career as a journey- cornerstone of the Cooper Union in New
man carriage maker. Gradually, how- York, in 1854, and saw its completion in
ever, he took up one enterprise after an- 1859, to be " forever devoted to the in-
other, with continuous success. In 1830 struction and the improvement of the in-
he established the Canton Iron Works, at habitants of the United States in practical
Canton, Md., where he constructed from science and art." He died in New York
his own designs the first locomotive made City in 1883. See his Autohioffraphy in
in the United States. He built three blast Old South Leaflets, gen. series, VI, No.
furnaces in Phillipsburg, and conducted 147.
other similar enterprises. Deeply inter-
172 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED . STATES
point the distribution of necessaries of life among wage-earners,
although it held a vague ideal of the ultimate production of
articles for the general market. Accordingly, the seat of the
movement was not in the West, with its working class striving
after immediate self-employment, but in Massachusetts where
the workingman felt reconciled to a more or less permanent
wage-earning status, and endeavoured to reduce his living ex-
penses by excluding the middleman's profit. It was this New
England co-operator and not his western colleague who bore
a close resemblance to the Rochdale pioneers.
The order of the Sovereigns of Industry grew out of the
Patrons of Husbandry, which had been organised in 1868 by
the government clerk, O. H. Kelley, for the education and
mutual aid of farmers. The Patrons started as a secret or-
ganisation, and the Sovereigns copied its secrecy. When Dud-
ley W. Adams, of Waukon, Iowa, was elected master of the
National Grange of the Patrons, he asked William H. Earle, an
old schoolmate, to take charge of the work in Massachusetts.
After organising granges for a time, Earle began to question
the justice of excluding all but farmers from the Order. He
felt that such an organisation should include all classes of
workingmen. Accordingly, early in January, 1874, he called
a meeting at Springfield of persons known to be favourable to
organisation upon these broader lines. Only fifteen men re-
sponded to the call, but these were in earnest. They worked
together for over a week, framed a constitution and ritual,
organising as the National Council of the Order of Sovereigns
of Industry, with Earle as president.*®
The purposes were set forth by its founder:
" Our Order is for the purpose of elevating the character, improv-
ing the condition, and, as far as possible, perfecting the happiness
of the laboring classes of every calling. Our Order will aim to cul-
tivate a generous sympathy among its members, and a supreme
respect for the rights of others. We propose to have Purchasing
Agencies, through which consumers reach the producer direct, with-
out so many needless ' middlemen/ who do nothing to merchandise
hut add to Us cost. We think 'middlemen' have grown rich
enough already. * Middlemen ' not only exact a tax from every con-
sumer, l)ut they are responsible for ' shoddy-goods,' ' short weights,'
IS Equity, October, 1874.
SOVEEEIGNS OF INDUSTRY 173
and adulterations. We are determined to secure pure goods at
lower prices. . . . We pay cash and combine our orders in large
numbers, and are saving from ten to fifteen per cent on our pur-
chases. ... In short, the Order is for the hard hand-workers, the
real producers of wealth, — and its purpose is to enable them to
control the whole of what they produce, and exchange it as near as
may be even with other hand workers, thus saving to themselves the
fortunes which those who are devoted to manipulating other people's
labour, and to getting rich thereby, have heretofore taken by extor-
tion." "
The constitution provided for national, state, and subordinate
councils, the national council to be composed of two representa-
tives from each state council, with power to issue, suspend, or
revoke charters for state and subordinate councils, receive ap-
peals and complaintS;, and redress grievances. The chief func-
tion of the national council, however, was agitational; it em-
ployed with great success John Orvis, a former member of the
Brook Farm community, as national lecturer from 1874 to
1876. The Order was maintained by an annual per capita tax
of 20 cents, with an initiation fee of 25 cents, and $15 for
subordinate charters.
" Any person engaged in industrial pursuits, not under six-
teen years of age, of good character, and having no interests in
conflict with the purposes of the Order," was eligible to mem-
bership. The charter members, numbering 60 representatives
from 8 States and the District of Columbia, included 21 women.
The list of members seems to have included no one who had
been interested in any previous national organisation, except
O. H. Kelly, founder of the Patrons of Husbandry. The Or-
der spread rapidly at first, taking root in nearly all of the
northern States. The membership of the councils which re^
ported was 21,619 in 1874; 27,984 in 1875; 16,993 in 1876;
9,673 in 1877; and 6,670 in 1878. The total membership in
1875-1876 was reported to be 40,000, of whom 75 per cent
were in !N"ew England and 43 per cent in Massachusetts.-^^ In
1875, 101 local councils reported as having some method of
supplying members with goods, and of these 46 operated stores,
20 upon the Rochdale system and 26 upon the system of selling
16 Ibid. land in American Economic Association,
17 Bemis, Co-operation in New Eng- Publications, I. 93.
1T4 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
at cost to members only. The remaining councils had agree-
ments with private traders for rebates to members. -^^ At the
congress in 1876, President Earle estimated the annual trade at
$3,000,000.
The Order co-operated in some instances with the Patrons
of Husbandry, and in at least one case it united with the Patrons
to maintain a co-operative store. -^^ In Vermont the state agent
of the Patrons was instructed to give to members of the Sov-
ereigns the same advantages in matters of trade that were given
to the members of the granges. ^"^
During the period of its ascendency, from 1874 to 1876, the
Order absorbed many independent labour organisations. Sev-
eral independent co-operative purchasing societies became local
councils. Other labour organisations identified themselves with
it. In New Jersey, the lodges of the Industrial Brotherhood
passed resolutions requesting their officers to ascertain whether
their organisations in the State might be incorporated with the
Sovereigns of Industry, and this arrangement was finally
made.^-^
The Sovereigns even succeeded in engulfing some of the
trade unions, whose members organised as lodges. This alarmed
the trade unionists, and their chief organ, the National Labor
Tribune, of Pittsburgh, began in October, 1875,^2 a systematic
attack on the Order, stating that " the only object of the Sov-
ereigns is to buy cheap, if they have to help reduce wages to a
dollar a day to do it," and that " the Sovereigns do not make
the protection and elevation of labor's interest cardinal doc-
trines." To the first accusation the Sovereigns replied that
" the great mass of those comprising the Order, work for wages,
and are as greatly interested in high wages, as any persons can
be," but they desire to ^^ buy without paying unnecessary profits
to middlemen." It is, moreover, not true, they said, that the
Order does not make '' the protection and elevation of labor's
interest cardinal doctrines," for " we mean to substitute co-
operation, production and exchange, for the present competitive
system," and " we war with the whole wage system, and demand
for labor the entire results of its beneficial toil ; . . . the Sov-
18 Ibid., 44.
20 Ibid.
19 E, M. Chamberlin, Sovereigns of In-
21 Ibid., 150.
dustry, 151.
22 Oct. 9, 1875.
SOVEREIGNS OF INDUSTRY 116
ereigns have no contest with any existing labor organisations,
we are jealous of none, envious of none." ^^
It was stated above that representatives of the Sovereigns
tried to merge the Industrial Congress of April, 1874, into the
Order, but failed. At this time the Sovereigns of Industry was
at its height. During the next year, however, the Order began
rapidly to decline. The chief cause was the hard times, which
made cash payment impossible for many and resulted in a gen-
eral falling off of the membership, and, in many instances, in
a change to the credit system with an even more disastrous
outcome for the Order. Frequently added to this was incom-
petent or dishonest management and, in the case of stores
which sold at cost, a fierce competition of private dealers that
eventually led to bankruptcy. Last, but not least, the jealousy,
or, at the best, the indifference of the trade unions, was one of
the causes of the downfall of the Order in 1878.
NATIONAL AND LOCAL TRADE UNIONS
The trade unions established during the sixties were pe-
culiarly unfit successfully to weather the stress of unemploy-
ment and wage reductions. The national trade union remained
a decentralised body, a loose federation of virtually autonomous
locals, each enforcing its own standard rates, apprenticeship
regulations, and working rules independently of the national
office. With unimportant exceptions ^^ there were no national
benefit systems. The outcome was that the hold of the trade
union upon its membership was dependent solely upon the meas-
ure of success with which it increased wages or decreased hours.
At the same time, the prevailing low dues did not permit the
accumulation of strike funds sufficient for resistance under
adverse conditions.
Another cause of weakness lay in the general fact that dur-
ing the period of depression the tendency increased among la-
bour leaders, who possessed a wide reputation, to forsake the
labour movement for politics. Fehrenbatch, president of the
23 National Labor Tribune, Oct. 23, tinued after 1882. The cigar makers
1875. nominally paid $50 death benefit. See
24 A death benefit for the moulders had Kennedy, Beneficiary Features of Ameri-
been started in 1870 and a superannu- can Trade Unions, in Johns Hopkins
ation benefit in 1874. Both were discon- University Studies, XXVI, 55,
176 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
machinists' and blacksmiths' national union, was elected to the
Ohio legislature in 1876 and two years later accepted a Fed-
eral position; H. J. Walls, the secretary of the moulders' na-
tional union, became in 1877 the first commissioner of the
Ohio Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Foran, the president
of the coopers, was admitted to the bar in Cleveland in 1874
as a prelude to a subsequent career in Congress. A much
longer list might be given, but it would enumerate many persons
not otherwise mentioned here at this time. The great West,
too, was still drawing oif the more energetic members of the
unions. When the labour movement again started, after 1877,
we seldom encounter the old familiar names we used to meet
on the pages of FincJier's Trades' Review, the Worlcingmans
Advocate, and the other labour papers of the sixties and early
seventies. And even the Worhingmans Advocate, which, un-
der the editorship of Andrew Cameron, had survived through
thirteen years and had chronicled the death of the other labour
papers of the period, was itself snuffed out in 1877.
It is no wonder, then, that the trade unions were on the down
grade. The New York Times ^^ estimated that the trade union
membership for that city had decreased 25 per cent (from 44,-
950 to 35,765) during the year preceding December, 1874.
In 1877 it further dwindled to approximately 5,000.^^ The
same held true of the West; in Cincinnati the entire trade
union membership in 1878 was not above 1,000.^^ The num-
ber of the national trade unions decreased from approximately
30 during the early seventies to 8 or 9 during 1877.^^ The
membership of the cigar makers' national union fell from 5,800
in 1869 to 1,016 in 1877, that of the coopers from about 7,000
in 1872 to 1,500 in 1878,^® and the machinists' union lost two-
thirds of its members.^^ The Order of the Crispins, with a
26 Dec. 11, 1874. tions: moulders, locomotive firemen,
26 Waltershausen, Die nordamerikan- miners, coopers, iron and steel workers,
iachen Oewerskschaften unter dem Ein- granite cutters, machinists and black-
fluss der forts chreitenden Productionstech- smiths, cigar makers, and carpenters and
nik, 202. joiners (the British organisation).
27 United States Senate Committee on 20 Farnam, " Die Amerikanischen
Education and Labor, Report on Relations Gewerkvereine," in Schriften des Verein*
between Capital and Labor, 1885, I, 411. fiir Socialpolitik, XVIII, 23.
28 The Labor Standard (New York) 30 The pattern makers and blacksmiths
listed in its trade union directory in the were added in 1877 and the name was
first part of 1877 nine national or inter- changed to "Mechanical Engineers of
national unions of the following occupa- North America." Ibid., 13.
STRIKES . 1'7T
membership of approximately 50,000 in 1871, had virtually-
gone out of existence in 1878. The Bricklayers dwindled from
43 locals, with 5,332 in 1873, to 3 locals in 1880,^^ and the
typographical, the oldest national union, which had 9,797 in
1873 was reduced to 4,260 in 1878.^^ Gompers, some 20 years
later, estimated the total membership of all trade unions in
1878 at 50,000.33
With the distintegration of the labour organisations disap-
peared the bulwark against wage reductions, and the gains of
shorter hours made in the eight-hour movement of 1872 were
swept away.
The weakening of national organisation in nearly every trade
and its disappearance in many added to the relative prominence
of the city trades' assemblies, even though the latter now ex-
isted in fewer localities and had fewer affiliated unions than in
the years preceding the crisis. Strike assessments for the benefit
of affiliated unions were levied by them in place of the national
unions. The constitution of the assembly in ^ew York,^'*
for example, provided for a weekly per capita assessment upon
the affiliated unions, to be paid out in strike benefits not to
exceed $3 per week to each striker. In addition it provided that
" a permanent strike fund should be formed through an as-
sessment of ten cents per member and, in case an affiliated union
fell four weeks behind in its payment, it should be suspended
and it should not be entitled to benefits during a whole month
after the back dues were paid." ^5
The retrogression of labour organisation was accompanied by
a series of bitterly fought strikes, mainly against wage reduc-
tions. The industries most strongly affected were cigar making,
the textiles, and coal mining.
The cigar makers in 'New York had first become active on
a large scale during the eight-hour strike in 1872. Division
SI From an unpublished manuscript his- 35 In 1881 strike contributions were
tory. made voluntary by the New York Assem-
32 Barnett, The Printers, 375. bly, each union to decide for itself upon
33 Industrial Commission, Report, 1901, the amount of its contribution. Walters-
VII, 615. hausen, Die nordamerikanischen Gewerk-
34 Quoted by Waltershausen, Die nord- achaften, 138. The national trade unions,
imerikanischen Oewerkschaften, 138, from at that time, had arisen in a sufficient
the Gewerkschaft-Zeitung (New York) number of trades to relieve the trades' as-
for July 20, 1880. The New York Trades' sembly from conducting and financing
Council was reorganised in April, 1877. strikes.
Labor Standard, Apr. 20, 1877.
178 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
of labour and child and woman labour were introduced first in
this city and the local union therefore decided to organise on
an industrial basis by taking in the rollers and the bunchers,
who were excluded from membership by the vote of the inter-
national union. In the winter of 1873 the union consisted of
about 1,700 members. Soon thereafter it went out on strike
against a large concern, which resulted not only in a severe
defeat for the strikers, but also in a complete revolution in the
method of production. It stimulated the employers to transfer
their work from the large shops to the tiny tenement house
shops operated by docile labour. Within one year over one-half
of the cigars manufactured in New York were made in tenement
houses. An unsuccessful appeal for interference was made in
1874 to the New York Board of Health. In the summer of
1876 the union, which had lost under the adverse conditions
nearly all of its members, was reorganised. Henceforth the
work of organisation proceeded steadily until the fall of 1877,
when a general strike of all cigar makers in the city for the abol-
ition of the tenement house system was declared. Nearly 7,000
struck, including a large proportion of tenement house workers.
The strike attracted attention in the country and considerable
aid was secured from the outside, but after 107 days of hard
struggle work was resumed under the old conditions and the
tenement house system was fastened upon the trade. ^®
In the textile industry the most severe and prolonged strikes
during this period occurred in Fall Kiver, where the industry
had grown during the years of prosperity faster than in any
other textile centre, and consequently rested upon a less firm
basis. In addition to this, a series of defalcations perpetrated
by the treasurers of several corporations in that city further
contributed to the disorganisation of the industry, and accord-
ingly increased the pressure upon wages. Between 1873 and
1880 wages were reduced 45 per cent. These periodic cuts
occasioned hard and bitterly fought strikes which were uni-
38 Vorbote, Nov. 6, 1875, Nov. 3, 1877, tenement houses, but in 1885 the highest
and Feb. 9, 1878; and McNeill, The court in the State declared it unconstitu-
Labor Movement : The Problem of To- tional on the ground that " it is plain that
day, 591. this is not a health law, and that it has
In 1883 New York passed a law pro- no relation whatever to the public health."
hibiting the manufacture of cigars or any In Matter Jacobs. 98 N. Y. 98.
other form of preparation of tobacco in
COAL MINERS 179
formly unsuccessful, French-Canadian immigrants taking the
places of the strikers.^''^
Disintegration, however, was not the rule in all labour organi-
sations. In the iron industry ^® an amalgamation took place in
1876 of three heretofore separate craft organisations, the United
Sons of Vulcan (puddlers), the Associated Brotherhood of Iron
and Steel Heaters (roughers, rollers and catchers), and the
Iron and Steel Eoll Hands, under the name of the Amalgamated
Association of Iron and Steel Workers. The puddlers, who
had had a trade agreement with the employers upon the slid-
ing scale principle since 1866 — the firgt national trade agree-
ment in American labour history — constituted 85 per cent
of the membership of the new organisation. It had about 3,000
members in 1876 and only 3,755 in 1877, but increased rap-
idly after this year, reaching the 20,000 mark in 1882.^^ So
effective was this organisation that its pioneer trade agreement
of 1866 was continued in most of the mills for a quarter of a
century, and in a few of the remaining iron mills continues even
down to the present time.
The development in the bituminous coal mining industry
during this period is of especial interest, since it represented
the first introduction of the written trade agreement into that
industry.
The bituminous miners had been without a national organi-
sation since the end of the War. But in October, 1873, John
Siney resigned his position as president of the anthracite min-
ers' union and, at a convention in Youngstown, Ohio, com-
bined the several state miners' unions into a miners' national
association, modelling it upon the pattern of the British or-
ganisation of the same name.*^ In spite of the depression
the membership reached 21,000 one year later. Like the Brit-
37 For an excellent account of the aimed at the eight-hour day. Farnam,
strikes against the periodic cuts and for Die Amerikaniachen Oewerkvereine, 8,
a return to the old wages, see McNeill, 25, 26.
The Labor Movement : The Problem of 39 Fitch, " Unionism in the Iron and
To-day, 221, 233. Steel Industry," in Political Science
38 There were still other exceptions to Quarterly, XXIV, 57-79.
the rule. The highly skilled but small -to Siney was assisted by John James,
National Trade Association of Hat Fin- the president of the niinois Miners' Union,
ishers of the United States of America re- who had been associated with Alexander
tained the closed shop throughout the McDonald, the well-known miners' leader
depression. The granite cutters, who in Scotland,
formed their ^national union in 1877,
180 HISTOEY OF LABOUK m THE UNITED STATES
ish association, the new organisation aspired toward concilia-
tion or arbitration in settling labour disputes. As soon as the
general office was opened in Cleveland, Siney began making
overtures to the coal companies in that city in the direction
of conciliation. He was, however, refused by all except Mark
Hanna, who was the largest operator in the Tuscarawas Val-
ley. The principle of arbitration was given a trial in Decem-
ber, 1874, when the employers in the Valley resolved upon a
reduction of the mining rate from 90 to 70 cents, and de-
manded a conference with the union to settle the matter peace-
ably. The union chose three representatives, the operators
three (Hanna was one), and Judge S. J. Andrews was selected
by them as the umpire of the board. The decision handed down
by Judge Andrews went entirely against the miners, the basic
rate being fixed at 71 cents, doubtless for no other than the
obvious reason that the state of the industry was depressed. The
miners acquiesced, but, as is usually the case when the condi-
tions of wage agreements are determined by an impartial umpire
instead of the relative bargaining power of both parties, they
felt that they could have attained better results if they had
struck. One mining company had previously appealed to the
employers' association to start a general lockout against the
demand for a check-weighman and had been refused. Soon
after the award had gone into effect, this company offered, in
revenge upon the other operators, to pay its men 80 cents, be-
sides allowing a check-weighman. Of course, the offer was ac-
cepted. The union miners, who had accepted the cut of 19
cents, immediately appealed to the general officers of the asso-
ciation to be absolved from the award. John Siney called a
session of the permanent board of appeals,^ ^ which, upon hear-
ing the representatives of the miners, granted the request.
The employers were obliged to grant the increase to 80 cents.
As a result of this failure of the union to live up to its agree-
ment, another ten years passed before arbitration and concilia-
tion was given another trial in the bituminous coal industry. ^^
41 This board had been created upon the several causes, the most important being,
suggestion of Mark Hanna. first, the uncontrollable passion of the
42 Miners' National Record (Cleve- members to strike against every reduction
land), May, 1875. The miners' associa- in wages, irrespective of circumstances
tion numbered 35,000 at the close of 1875, and against the wishes of John Siney and
but it went to pieces the next year due to the executive board; and, second, the ar-
MOLLY MAGUIRES 181
In anthracite mining the trade agreement system which had
existed upon the basis of a sliding scale since 1869 was broken
up in 1874 after the " long strike '' of seven months' duration
against a reduction of the wage scale. The strike ended in de-
feat in August and the once powerful Workingmen's Benevolent
Association was so completely demoralised that it went to
pieces ^^ and was followed by the ^* Molly Maguires."
THE " MOLLY MAGUIRES "
In no industry did the failure of trade unionism in the
seventies lead to such serious results as in anthracite mining,
where it left an opening for renewal of the murderous activity
of the secret society known as the ^' Molly Maguires." Indeed,
we find that, beginning with the early sixties, when the society
first became known, until 1876, when it was finally stamped out,
its criminal activity varied inversely in frequency and violence
with the fortunes of the anthracite workers' union. The
Miners' Journal of March 30, 1867,** published a list of fifty
murders committed in Schuylkill County alone between Janu-
ary 1, 1863, and March 30, 1867, a period during which union-
ism was weak. On the other hand, little was heard of lawless-
ness between October, 1868, and December, 1871,*^ the period
of the greatest strength of unionism and of the trade agreement
between the anthracite board of trade and the Miners' and La-
borers' Benevolent Association. Crimes, however, began to
occur frequently after 1871. But only after the " long strike,"
which lasted from December, 1874, to June, 1875," and ended
in a total destruction of the union did a " crime wave " sweep
the anthracite counties.
" Mollie Maguires " was the name used for the secret ring
that controlled the lodges of the fraternal organisation of the
rest of Siney and Parks for conspiracy History of the Ooai Miner* of the United
and inciting to riot in Clearfield County, States, 175, 178. Siney died in 1880.
Penn., in June, 1875. Although Siney 43 Ibid., 99.
was acquitted by the jury of the charge 44 Quoted in Martin, History of the
of conspiracy and Parks alone was sen- Great Riots, together with a full His-
tenced for inciting to riot, this trial tory of the Molly Maguires, 466 ; see also,
brought on the disintegration of the asso- Rhodes, " Molly Maguires in the Anthra- (
elation. At the next session of the legis- cite Region of Pennsylvania," in Amer.
lature of Pennsylvania, a law was passed Hist. Review, XV, 547-561.
exempting combinations to raise wages 46 Ibid.
from the charge of conspiracy. Roy,
182 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Ancient Order of Hibernians in the anthracite counties, and
directed and perpetrated the crimes.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians was organised in Ireland
as a means of opposing the encroachments of the landlords, but
in the United States it was maintained in an effort to control
the relations between the miners and the mine operators. The
Irish organisation was composed of men who, in their own
country, had lived through a period of storm and stress that
had made them lawless and tenacious of their rights. The
membership was composed entirely of Irish Catholics, but the
Order never had the sanction of the Roman Catholic Church,
and it was, in fact, the object of strenuous opposition on the part
of the clergy. It is known to have existed in this country as
early as 1852, appearing first in Pennsylvania, where it was
always to be found in its greatest strength. Although the fact
was not known until a decade later, the Order resorted to- vio-
lence as early as 1862, and from that time until the crushing
of the organisation in 1875 and 1876, deeds of violence were
increasingly common. Its members opposed the enlistment of
soldiers by draft in some parts of Pennsylvania, threatening,
and in one case, at least, maltreating, the officials of the draft.
The outbreak of the Civil War caused an increased demand
for coal, and consequent increase in the demand for miners.
More Irishmen came over to meet this demand, and the Ancient
Order of Hibernians grew accordingly. The Order was in-
corporated under the laws of Pennsylvania in 1871, and of
several other States to which it spread. According to the con-
stitution under which it was incorporated, the Hibernians were
humane, charitable, and benevolent. They seem to have been
controlled by a " Committee of Erin " with headquarters in
Great Britain. There were, besides the national organisation,
state, district, and local divisions, each with its own officials.
With added strength it began to take on more of the char-
acteristics of the secret orders of Ireland, the Molly Maguires
and Ribbonmen. The name in this country was gradually
changed to " The Molly Maguires," although there is no evi-
dence that there was any connection between this Order and
the Irish society of that name.
The Molly Maguires early became strong enough to form a
MOLLY MAGUIRES 188
powerful factor in local politics, in some places being able to
assert complete control. They sought especially the offices of
county commissioner, tax collector, school director, and others
which handled money. Having secured the election, they pro-
ceeded to exploit the office to the fullest extent without regard
to the welfare of the public. There were said to be 6,000 local
lodges of the Order throughout the country, and, according to
testimony of members when brought into court, the " entire
organisation from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the
Gulf of Mexico to Maine, is criminal in its character.'^ *^
Whether this was true or not, it seems to be an established fact
that there came no word of protest against the outrages com-
monly committed by the Pennsylvania members, except from
a part of one local lodge in Philadelphia.^'^
The depredations of the Mollies were usually directed against
the mine owners or bosses, but seldom on general grounds. The
victim had usually offended some individual member of the
Order and he was punished for this, rather than for a principle.
In some cases the punishment meted out was severe handling,
or destruction of property, but, believing that " dead men tell
no tales," the murder of the offender became the common form
of punishment.
The method employed in administering these punishments
was calculated to protect the murderers from detection. When
the death of an offender had been decided upon, a notice was
sent from the Molly district in which the victim resided to the
officers of another district, asking that men be detailed to come
over and do the deed. These men were unknown to the victim
and to the district generally. After the murder they were
helped to escape by members of the local order. The local lodge
receiving the favour was placed under obligation to that which
granted it and might be called upon at any time for a return of
the accommodation.
In the rare cases when a murderer was arrested it was easy
to prove an alibi, and this became the favourite defence of the
Mollies when in trouble. Perjury was obviously no obstacle to
men who had so little regard for law and life, and they always
46 Dewees, The Molly Maguiret, 39. ^T Ibid., 98.
184 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
produced as many witnesses as were necessary to swear that the
accused was elsewhere at the time the crime was committed.*^
In 1869 Franklin B. Gowen, formerly attorney for the
Philadelphia & Eeading Kail Eoad Company, became president
of the road. Having been a resident of Schuylkill County for
a decade, he was as familiar with the history of the Molly
Maguires as was any outsider at that time. As president of
the railroad, which, like most of the transportation companies
of that region, was also a mining company, he realised that
mining operations must be carried on at a disadvantage as long
as the depredations of this criminal organisation were permit-
ted. To end this he conferred with the Pinkerton detective
agency, and a man was sent into the mining region to learn
what he could about the crimes committed.
This man was James McParlan, an Irishman and a Catho-
lic. He lived among the miners, sought the company of the
roughest, declared himself a fugitive from justice, and pre-
tended that he was even then living by passing counterfeit
money. By this means he won for himself the friendship of the
Molly Maguires, was initiated into the Order, and even made
secretary of his district.
McParlan, or McKenna, as he was known among the Mollies,
came to the anthracite region in October, 1873. He was made
the confidant of many a criminal and was able to warn a num-
ber of proposed victims. When, in December, 1874, " the long
strike '^ for higher wages began, many of the leaders and the
better men in the Miners' and Laborers' Benevolent Associa-
tion were opposed to it ; but the Molly Maguires were in control
and the strike was called. After the strike had been in progress
for several months, suffering became common among the miners.
Many of them would have returned to work, but fear of the
Mollies prevented. The employers declared a reduction of
wages necessary, but the association was firm in maintaining
that at least the old wages should be paid. Much feeling mani-
fested itself on both sides, and at last the great coal-mining
companies refused to treat with the association at all. About
48 The object of these murders was 1868, when a large number were com-
usually, as has been stated, vengeance for mitted for the purpose of robbery. There
some act of a mine owner or boss, but is little doubt that these were perpetrated
there was a period in 1866 and another in by the Molly Maguires. Ibid., 61.
PITTSBURGH RIOTS 185
June 1, 1875, the operators won, and the miners' association
was crushed. The leaders advised the members to make the
best terms possible with their individual employers. The Molly
element in the union opposed such action, and, by intimidation,
prevented a resumption of work for some time. An attempt to
open the collieries of the Philadelphia & Eeading Company,
under promise of protection to the men, resulted in a riot. The
militia was called out and the disturbance quelled. The mines
began operation, the miners' union was wrecked. The Molly
Maguires, on the contrary, had grown stronger and more of-
fensive and crime followed crime in rapid succession. But it
was soon to end. James McKenna had accumulated a mass of
evidence against the Mollies, individually and collectively, and
in the fall of 1875 arrests were made and trials were begun.
These trials dragged on until late in 1876, when, with the con-
viction of 24 criminals, the Order was crushed. Fourteen were
committed to prison for terms varying from 2 to 7 years and
10 were executed.
THE GREAT STRIKES OF 1877
]N'otwithstanding all optimistic expectations for an industrial
revival in 1877, the depression reached its lowest point in that
year. This led to further reductions in wages in the majority
of industries. But in no other industry did these reductions
cause so much bitterness and resentment as on the railroads. In
the first place, the railroads were the largest employers in the
country, and a cut in railroad wages simultaneously aifected
large numbers of people ; and, second, the general feeling in the
community against railroad corporations made the gTievances of
the men appear especially huge. The Pennsylvania road had
reduced wages 10 per cent soon after the panic of 1873, but it
declared another general reduction of 10 per cent to take effect
June 1, 1877. The other competing roads followed the ex-
ample. The 'New York Central declared a similar reduction
to go into effect July 1 and the Baltimore & Ohio, July 16.^®
The situation of the railway unions was precarious. The
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers had in 1874 deposed
49 Report, of the committee appointed investigate the railroad riots in July,
by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to 1877, p. 2.
186 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Grand Chief Engineer Wilson, who was accused of siding with
the railroads, and his place was taken by the " insurgent," P. M.
Arthur, who was then still in favour of an energetic policy
against the companies. The Brotherhood conducted two strikes
in April, 1877, one against a reduction on the Boston & Albany,
and another against the Pennsylvania railroad, but both were
failures. President Gowen, of the Pennsylvania & Reading,
encouraged by his successful operations against the Molly Ma-
guires and fearing a strike by his locomotive engineers, ordered
them upon the penalty of discharge to withdraw from the
Brotherhood. They reluctantly submitted, but decided to sur-
prise the officials by a sudden strike at midnight on April 14.
This plan was frustrated, however, through the activity of the
Pinkerton detectives, and the railroad, by securing a sufficient
number of strike-breakers to take the places of the men,^^ was
fully prepared for the event. The Brotherhood of Railway
Conductors (established in 1868) and of the railway Firemen
(organised in 1873) were weak and remained quiet through-
out the period of the strikes.
When the Pennsylvania declared the reduction in wages to
take effect in June, the employes selected a committee com-
posed principally of engineers, which, in the latter part of May,
waited on Thomas A. Scott, the president, and accepted his
explanation and promise to return to the old scale when busi-
ness improved. The engineers acquiesced, but the other train-
men charged openly that the committee, bemuse it was com-
posed mainly of engineers, had acted merely in their own in-
terest. Thereupon, the employes of railroads having their
termini in Pittsburgh began organising a secret Trainmen's
Union to resist the reduction.^ ^ The leading spirit was a
young brakeman, Robert H. Ammon, who organised the first
lodge in Alleghany City, June 2, 1877, and thereafter acted
as the general organiser. In a short time he had extended the
union on the divisions of the Baltimore & Ohio, the Pennsyl-
vania and its leased lines radiating east and west from Pitts-
burgh, as well as on the Erie and the Atlantic & Great Western.
50 Ibid., 25 : Pinkerton, Strikers, Communists, Tramps and Detectives, 112
et seq.
61 Report, Pennsylyania, etc., 2,
PITTSBURGH EIOTS 187
The union " aimed to get the trainmen — comprising engi-
neers, conductors, brakemen, and firemen, on the three grand
trunk lines of the country — into one solid body " and to strike
simultaneously. The original intention was that the strike
should break out on June 27 at noon, and forty men were dis-
patched from Pittsburgh to notify the various divisions when
the signal was given. However, dissension occurred at a meet-
ing on the night preceding the day set and a portion of the
leaders went west, declaring that the strike would not be de-
clared. This caused the whole movement to collapse.^^
The organised attempt at resistance thus failed, but the em-
ployes' accumulated feeling of resentment against the railroad
was sufficiently strong to cause a spontaneous and unorganised
outbreak at the least provocation. The events of the next
month can be understood only by recalling that the four years
of acute depression had created a large element in society which
was ever ready to take advantage of any big disturbance to steal,
plunder, and destroy. Allan Pinkerton in his book, which
appeared in 1878, said that " while he, the tramp, is commonly
the outgrowth of conditions of society which will never mate-
rially vary, the severe and unprecedented hard times that have
lately been experienced, and which still seem to girdle the en-
tire globe, have manufactured tramps with an alarming rapidity.
Where they previously existed as single wandering vagabonds,
they now have increased until they travel in herds, and, through
the dire necessity of their pitiable condition, justly create some
anxiety and alarm.'' ^^
The first outbreak occurred on the Baltimore & Ohio at
Martinsburg, West Virginia, on July 17, the day after the 10
per cent reduction had gone into effect. The trainmen refused
to allow freight trains to leave the station either east or west
unless their wages were restored. The lodge of the Brother-
hood of Locomotive Engineers refused to take an active part,
but, their sympathies being with the strikers, they made only
half-hearted attempts to move the trains. The local state militia
was called out, but could hardly be relied upon to enforce the
rights of the railroad at the sacrifice of the lives of their rela-
52 Ibid., 671.
83 Pinkerton, Strikers, Communists, Tramps and Detectives, 42.
188 HISTORY OF LABOUB IN THE UNITED STATES
tives and friends. Consequentlj the strikers held full sway for
two days, until the arrival of 200 Federal troops, which had
been dispatched by President Hayes upon the request of Gov-
ernor Matthews. Immediately the strike ceased and the trains
began to move freely in and out of Martinsburg.
The strike spread like wildfire over the adjacent sections of
the Baltimore & Ohio, the strikers assuming absolute control at
many points, notably Cumberland, Maryland. At Baltimore,
in order to avoid trouble, the management stopped nmning
freight trains. Governor Carroll, of Maryland, profiting by
the experience with the militia in Martinsburg, ordered Balti-
more regiments, the Fifth, and two companies of the Sixth, to
proceed to Cumberland July 20. The Fifth Regiment arrived
safely at the Camden depot, where the militia was to board a
train for Cumberland. The two companies of the Sixth, how-
ever, were beleaguered in the armory by an ever-increasing mob
determined to prevent their departure. Gaining egress, the
companies marched under a hail of brickbats and revolver shots
to the depot, freely replying from their guns. The fury of the
mob increased as night arrived and a successful attempt was
made to set fire to the depot. The mob threatened the lives of
the firemen who attempted to extinguish the fire, and the militia
would have been in a very sorry plight had not a strong force
of police arrived at this moment and driven the mob from the
fire engines. This broke the spirit of the mob and the dis-
order immediately ceased. On the following day. Federal
troops arrived at Baltimore and other threatened points in the
State and effectively put an end to the strike.
The occurrences in Martinsburg and Baltimore, however,
fade into insignificance when compared with the destructive
effects of the strike on the Pennsylvania road in and around
Pittsburgh. On this road the reduction in wages had gone into
effect June 1, with no immediate disturbance except a small
strike at Alleghany, which was unsuccessful. The outbreak of
violence had a different cause. The introduction of " double
headers," or freight trains composed of thirty-four cars instead
of seventeen in a single train, and drawn by two engines, was
designed to economise labour and throw out of work a large
number of conductors and brakemen. The order for " double
PITTSBURGH RIOTS 189
headers " was issued some time in July, to take effect on the
19th of the month. On the very day when the management
attempted to carry out the order the strike broke out. The
strikers took possession of the switches over which the trains
would have to move, and refused to let any trains pass out.
Their number was constantly becoming larger and their bearing
more threatening. The mayor of Pittsburgh, upon whom the
railway management called for help, gave a perfunctory reply
and very little help. It was evident that practically all the in-
habitants of Pittsburgh believed that the city was being discrim-
inated against by the Pennsylvania road in the matter of freight
rates and were on the side of the strikers. The sheriff acted
in the same perfunctory manner, but appealed, nevertheless,
to the governor for state troops. Several local regiments of
the national guard were immediately ordered out, but, fear-
ing that the Pittsburgh militia sympathised with the strikers,
600 troops were also ordered from Philadelphia and arrived
at the union depot at noon, July 21. This being on Satur-
day, when the mills shut down at noon, the ranks of the
strikers were swelled by large numbers of sympathisers from
the mills. The Pittsburgh militia, as was expected, fraternised
with the strikers, but the Philadelphia troops seriously attempted
to clear the track for the movement of trains. They succeeded
in dispersing a large mob at 26th Street crossing, killing twenty-
six, but the movement of the trains was given up and the troops
were ordered into the lower roundhouse and machine shops.
Meanwhile, upon the advice of many influential citizens, who
insisted that the presence of the troops would exasperate the
mob and aggravate the situation, the general in command dis-
banded the remainder of the Pittsburgh troops, who had not
yet gone to their homes of their own accord. Thus the Phila-
delphia troops were left to their own fate in the face of an
armed mob, which grew to enormous proportions as darkness
set in. The mob soon began a real siege of the roundhouse
which held the soldiers. About ten o'clock the cars and the
shops were set on fire and soon the conflagration threatened the
roundhouse. The soldiers fought against the mob and the fire
till half past seven in the morning when, in obedience to orders,
they marched out and began a retreat out of the city, being
190 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
subject to constant fire from aU sides until they left the city
limits. This left the mob the unhindered master of the situa-
tion, free to burn, destroy, and to loot. The rioting lasted an-
other day and finally spent itself, after nearly $5,000,000 worth
of railroad property had been destroyed. When a group of
professional and business men, alarmed over the vast destruction
of property, improvised a small band of militia and appeared at
the union depot, it found only a small crowd of looters, which
was easily dispersed. The great riot had ended of itself.
The mob was made up of some railroad men, mill men, boys,
roughs, and tramps. It is noteworthy that at Alleghany City,
a railroad centre just across the river from Pittsburgh, neither
rioting nor destruction of property occurred. Here the train-
men's union survived the unsuccessful attempt to strike in
June, and Robert A. Ammon, the head of the union, taking
control of the situation, managed the division four days with-
out mishap.^*
Disturbances occurred also at Harrisburg, Philadelphia,
Reading, Altoona, Scranton, and several minor points. In the
first two cities they were easily quelled by the police and the
militia. In Reading, however, the militia, as in Pittsburgh,
fraternised with the strikers and order was restored only by the
arrival of 300 Federal troops. At Scranton the coal miners
were more active in the strike than the trainmen. The strikers
were dispersed by a posse of citizens headed by the mayor, who
enforced order until the troops arrived.
The strike spread to the Erie road and the principal dis-
turbances occurred at Homellsville, New York, and Buffalo.
The other cities to which the strike spread were Toledo, Louis-
ville, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco.
The strikes failed in every case, but the moral effect was
enormous. For the first time a general strike movement swept
the country. Heretofore, the general eight-hour movement in
New Yprk City in the spring of 1872 had been the largest
strike on record. But now the labour problem became a mat-
ter of nation-wide and serious interest to the general public.
Fundamental changes followed. The inefficiency of the militia
54 He operated passenger and mail ment of freight trains. Report of Penn.,
trains, the strike affecting only the move- etc., 22.
PITTSBURGH RIOTS 191
showed the need of a reliable basis of operation for the troops,
and the construction of numerous and strong armories in the
large cities dates from 1877. The courts began to change their
attitude toward labour unions; the strikes and riots brought
back from oblivion the doctrine of malicious conspiracy as ap-
plied to labour combinations. The legislatures in many States
enacted conspiracy laws directed against labour. But the
strongest moral effect was upon the wage-earning class. The
spirit of labour solidarity Avas strengthened and made national.
This was the first time in the history of the American labour
movement that Federal troops were called out in time of peace
to suppress strikes. N'or had the state militia ever been used
for the same purpose on so large a scale. The feeling of re-
sentment engendered thereby began to assume a political aspect,
and during the next two years the territory covered by the
strike wave became a most promising field for labour parties of
all kinds and descriptions. On the side of trade union organi-
sation the effect of the strike appears to have been more remote.
Nevertheless, it can safely be stated that there was a direct con-
nection between the active coming forth of the unskilled during
the strike and the attempts, so largely secret, that were made im-
mediately after to organise this class of labour.
PART SIX
UPHEAVAL AND REORGANISATION
(Since 1876)
By SELIG PERLMA:^r
CHAPTER I
SECRET BEGINNINGS
Employers' opposition to trade unions during the period of depression,
195. Necessity for secrecy, 195. Beginning of the Knights of Labor, 196.
Uriah S. Stephens, 197. Assembly 1 of Philadelphia, 197, " Sojourners,"
198. Kitual and principles, 198. Additional assemblies, 199. District
Assembly 1, of Philadelphia, 199. District Assembly 2, of Camden, New
Jersey, 199. District Assembly 3, of Pittsburgh, 199. Recruiting ground
of the Knights, 200. Strikes and strike funds, 200. Rivalry between
District Assembly 1 and District Assembly 3, 200. The issue of secrecy,
201. Attitude of the Catholic Church, 201. The Junior Sons of '76 and
their call for a national convention, 201.
The business depression of 1873 to 1879 was a critical period
in the American labour movement. The old national trade
unions either went to pieces, or retained a merely nominal exis-
tence. Employers sought to free themselves from the restric-
tions that the trade unions had imposed upon them during the
years preceding the crisis. They consequently added a sys-
tematic policy of lockouts, of blacklists, and of legal prosecu-
tion to the already crushing weight of hard times and unem-
ployment. Speaking of this period, McNeill says '^ a great deal
of bitterness was evinced against trades union organisations,
and men were blacklisted to an extent hardly ever equalled," ^ so
that it became '' very difficult to find earnest and active members
who were willing to serve on committees." ^
It became clear that the " open union " was not an effective
means of combatting the tactics of capital. Hence " labor
leaders met silently and secretly," ^ and advocated an organisa-
tion " hedged about with the impenetrable veil of ritual, sign
grip, and password," so that ^' no spy of the boss can find his
way in the Lodgeroom to betray his fellows." * By the require-
1 McNeill, Labor Movement : The Prob- speech by William M. Davis, state secre-
lem of To-day, 154. tary of the Ohio Miners' Union.
2 Ibid., 398. 4 Ibid., July 9, 1881, from the Chicago
3 Quoted in the Pittsburgh National Progreaaive Age-
Labor Tribune, Oct. 8, 1880, from a
195
196 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ment that each applicant should take the oath they hoped to
shield the organisation from the indiscretion of some of its
members.^
"When the commercial interests/' said the National Labor
Tribune of April 24, 1875, " combine to exact the greatest share
of profits of labor and give labor the least, even to the verge
of starvation, when all attempts of labor to openly oppose and
defeatjhe efforts of these combinations are made the pretext for
still further oppression and persecution, it is time for the peo-
ple to unite together for their individual and common safety.
. . . These considerations have prompted men in all trades to
have recourse to secret organisations."
One of the secret organisations was the Molly Maguires.®
But terrorism could not lastingly succeed. The great railway
strikes of 1877, which, in their violent methods, were akin to the
Molly Maguires, were also doomed to fail. The typical organ-
isation during the seventies was secret for protection against
intrusion by outsiders, but it differed from the Molly Maguires
in its peaceful methods. One of this type, the Knights of
Labor, became the leading organisation of the following decade.
Others were the Sovereigns of Industry, modelled after the
Patrons of Husbandry of the farmers, and the Industrial
Brotherhood, which captured the National Labor Congress in
1874.*^ Still another was the Junior Sons of '76. Allan Pink-
erton ^ also mentions the Universal Brotherhood and the An-
cient Order of United Workmen. The former might refer to
the Industrial Brotherhood but the latter was a purely fraternal
order, organised in 1868. ^
The depression also cleared the field for a revolutionary move-
ment. Socialism emerged for the first time from the narrow
circle of the refugees from Europe, extended its organisations,
and made its appeal to the American workingmen. It found,
however, that in order to succeed it had to dislodge the philoso-
phy of greenbackism which the American wage-earning class
was recognising as its official expression of opinion. Although
the secret organisations, unlike the remnants of the trade unions
of the sixties, refused to join the farmers in the " Independent "
6 Doc. Hist., X, 23. 8 Pinkerton, Striken, Communista ,
6 See above, II, 181 et seq. Tramps and Detectives, 89.
7 See above, II, 171 et aeq.
KNIGHTS OF LABOR 197
or " Greenback " party which was formed in 1875, still the
sway held over them by the greenback philosophy was none the
less effective. In the Pittsburgh convention of 1876, to be
mentioned below, both groups of organisations, the secret and
the socialist, came together in an endeavour to consolidate the
labour movement.
The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor, although it first
became important in the labour movement after 1873, was
formed by Uriah Smith Stephens in 1869. From that year
until 1878 it maintained extreme secrecy. Stephens was born
in 1821 at Cape May, New Jersey, and, although educated for
the Baptist ministry, was compelled to learn the tailoring trade
for a living. He also taught school for a time. His intellectual
experience was broadened by a journey to Europe in the sixties
and there he doubtless came in touch with the Marxian Inter-
nationalists.^
Stephens organised the first assembly in Philadelphia, De-
cember 26, 1869. He and the others were members of a gar-
ment cutters' union organised in 1862 or 1863. It seems that,
after exercising ^^ considerable influence in the trade," the union
declined. ^^ Stephens contended that the union could regain
its old standing by shielding the organisation and its mem-
bers with the veil of secrecy. -^^ With this purpose in mind,
he attempted to secure the dissolution of the old open union of
the tailors, and to form, with those who cared to join, a new
secret society. ^^ The rivalry became so intense that the old
union forbade any of its members to join any other association
of their branch of trade, open or secret, under penalty of ex-
pulsion.^^
As a preliminary attempt at organisation. Assembly 1 (this
was the designation adopted for the local bodies and was retained
throughout the existence of the Order) allowed men of all
callings to join, receiving the same privileges as the garment
9 In the eighties there was a "legend" lO McNeill, Labor Movement: The Prob-
current among the American socialists, lem of To-day, 397.
saying that the Internationalist, J. Oeorge ii Powderly, Thirty Tears of Labor,
Eccarius, had supplied Stephens with a 134.
set of Marx's writings, including the 12 McNeill, Labor Movement : The Prob-
Communist Manifesto. It is plain, how- lem of To-day, 401.
ever, that he did not adopt the essential 13 Ibid. This union, four years later,
ideas of Marx. But see Der SoziaXist joined the Knights of Labor.
(New York), Mar. 3, 1888.
198 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
cutters, except that they were not allowed to participate in trade
matters. Neither were they required to pay dues. It was ex-
pected that these " sojourners '^ would act as missionaries and
organise and instruct their fellow tradesmen. The decision to
admit non-garment cutters to membership was a compromise,
as the most radical members wanted the assembly " thrown open
to workingmen of every trade or calling." ^^ For the succeed-
ing year and a half this new secret society, through its mysteri-
ous action, attracted more attention than its membership or ac-
complishments warranted. -^^
The principles of the Order were set forth by Stephens in the
secret ritual. " Open and public association having failed af-
ter a struggle of centuries to protect or advance the interest of
labor, we have lawfully constituted this Assembly," and ^' in
using this power of organised effort and co-operation, we but
imitate the example of capital heretofore set in numberless in-
stances," for, "" in all the multifarious branches of trade, capital
has its combinations, and whether intended or not, it crushes
the manly hopes of labor and tramples poor humanity into the
dust." However, " we mean no conflict with legitimate enter-
prise, no antagonism to necessary capital." The remedy con-
sists first in work of education : " We mean to create a healthy
public opinion on the subject of labor, (the only creator of
values or capital) and the justice of its receiving a full, just
share of the values or capital it has created." The next remedy
is legislation : " We shall with all our strength, support laws
made to harmonise the interests of labor and capital, for labor
alone gives life and value to capital, and also those laws which
tend to lighten the exhaustiveness of toil." Next in order are
mutual benefits. " We shall use every lawful and honorable
means to procure and retain and employ for one another, coupled
with a just and fair remuneration, and, should accident or mis-
fortune befall one of our number, render such aid as lies within
our power to give, without inquiring his country or his creed." ^®
From the beginning up to July, 1872, all attempts at organis-
14 Powderly, Thirty Years of Labor, At other times a call for a meeting would
143. appear in a newspaper anonymously
15 Meetings were announced by five signed.
stars, a circle enclosing a triangle being 16 Doc. EUt., X, 23, 24.
marked on sidewalks, fences, and walls.
ICKIGHTS OF LABOR 199
ing additional assemblies proved unsuccessful. However, by
May, 1873, six assemblies were organised, most of them com-
posed of textile workers and all located in Philadelphia. ^"^ In
order to secure concerted action on matters pertaining to the
" welfare of the whole," a committee on " good of the Order ''
was established.^^ This was the precursor of the ^' district as-
sembly.''
With the expansion of the Order outside Philadelphia and
into bordering States, the need for a permanent central body
began to be felt. So on Christmas day of 1873, District Assem-
bly 1 was founded with thirty-one assemblies attached to it. The
ritual and other work of the Order were now put into written
form, and the organisation was complete.
Henceforth the growth of the Order in the East was steady
and promising. The desire of the leaders to make the Order
universal prompted them to turn westward. Here they in-
terested John M. Davis, editor of the National Labor Tribune,
of Pittsburgh, who took up the work west of that city. In the
meantime (October 4, 1874) District Assembly 2 of Camden,
'New Jersey, was founded, and on August 8, 1875, District As-
sembly 3 of Pittsburgh was organised. This planted the Order
in the industrial section of the United States and enabled it to
reach wage-earners everywhere. It is very difficult to estimate
the membership, as no provision was made for any central
record, each district assembly having absolute control of its
membership. The Order may have counted about 5,000 mem-
bers, but the membership at this time, as well as throughout; the
existence of the Order, fluctuated enormously. Individuals or
trade unions would join, and finding that the organisation could
not or did not help them, they lost interest in it. John Mc-
Bride, who was the paramount miners' leader during the eighties
and early nineties and became president of the American Fed-
eration of Labor during 1894, corroborates this statement as
follows : " Miners organised very generally into it for a while,
in localities, but as it never seemed to show, on the surface, of
anything being done to raise the price of mining, they fell off
about as rapidly as they organised." ^®
17 Powderly, Thirty Tears of Labor, 19 McNeill, Labor Movement : The Prob-
183. lem of To-day, 251.
IS Ibid.. 164.
200 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The Knights of Labor received their recruits from two
sources. With the disruption of most of the national trade
unions in 1873, many of the surviving locals found it to their
interest to affiliate with the Knights of Labor. This was true
of an especially large number of locals which formerly belonged
to the Miners' National Association,^^ the Machinists and
Blacksmiths' national union, the Knights of St. Crispin, and the
Ship Carpenters' and Caulkers' national union. The other
sources of strength were in unattached locals which never be-
longed to a national trade union, such as silver gilders, brush
makers, stationary engineers, cooks, garment workers, and car-
pet weavers. Most of these locals existed before the Knights
came on the scene, although some were organised through their
efforts.
The data as to the activities of the Knights during this period
are meagre. The membership clustered mainly around the in-
dustrial centres of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Mary-
land, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, but did not
extend further west than the region of Pittsburgh.
Most of the district assemblies had compulsory strike funds,
and as strikes, in the coal region especially, were resorted to
frequently, these funds must have been used considerably.
Patrick McBride, in his history of the coal miners,^^ gives two
instances in which district assemblies resorted to strikes during
this period.
It was understood from the outset among all who owed al-
legiance to the Knights of Labor that sooner or later a na-
tional organisation was to be formed. ^^ In the meantime. Dis-
trict Assembly 1 of Philadelphia, was, by tacit consent of the
other branches, to be recognised as head of the Order. ^^ How-
ever, District Assembly 3 of Pittsburgh, owing to its location
and leaders,^^ as a matter of course became at first the chief
representative of the Order in the West. Later, meeting with
" phenomenal success in organising new assemblies, and dis-
tricts," ^^ it began to consider itself not only equal to Dis-
20 Ibid., 251. 24 John M. Davis, editor of the No-
21 Ibid., 252. 261. tional Labor Tribune, at this time one of
22 Powderly, Thirty Teart of Labor, the most influential labour papers, was
192. chief organiser and district master work-
23 General Assembly, Proceedings, man of District Assembly 3.
1878, p. 3. 25 Powderly, Thirty Tears of Labor, 192.
KNIGHTS OF LABOR 201
trict Assembly 1, but even superior. As time went on, this
feeling of disunion was accentuated, since the officers of Dis-
trict Assembly 3 were obliged to make their own " passwords,
and in many other ways ... to depend on themselves for aid
which should come from the officers of District Assembly 1,
who were too busily engaged in the work of organising the
eastern cities and towns." ^^ Kesulting from this rivalry the
first attempts to establish a national organisation proceeded
simultaneously from two independent centres, each claiming to
be the legitimate head of the Order. ''
One of the important issues which forced to the front the mat-
ter of national organisation was the question of secrecy. The
disadvantages of absolute secrecy began to tell in the middle of
the seventies when the criminal activities of the Molly Maguires
threw an odium upon secret labour societies in general.
The Catholic Church, especially in that region where the
Molly Maguires operated, also joined the employers and the
public in opposing the " extreme " secrecy of the Order. At the
same time complaints were made in some sections of the Order
that secrecy was hindering the work of organisation. As early
as 1875, District Assembly 1 received a petition from the flint
glass-blowers' Local Assembly 82, of Brooklyn, picturing the
difficulties under which " it laboured in securing members," and
winding up by asking that District Assembly 1 " take steps to
make the name of the Order public, so that workingmen would
know of its existence." ^'^
However, before the Knights definitely decided for indepen-
dent national organisation, they were active participants in an
attempt to bring together all labour orders for the purpose of
creating a consolidated national organisation. The initiative
for this move came from another secret organisation, the Junior
Sons of 76.
This was a " partially secret " order, organised in Pitts-
burgh in May, 1874.^® It purported to be a national organisa-
tion, but iji reality its membership was practically confined to
the State of Pennsylvania. Like all labour reform organisa-
tions of the time, it placed the demand for money reform at the
2« Ibid., 191, 192. 28 Pittsburgh National Labor Tribune,
27 Ibid., 224. Oct. 31, 1874.
202 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
head of its programme. ^^ The other issues specifically men-
tioned were the recall of public officials and opposition to the
militia. The tarijBF policy was left to the different congressional
districts to decide for themselves. The Junior Sons of '76 ad-
vocated independent political action, and, to this end, the con-
stitution provided for organisation by political units, local
lodges, county assemblies, district assemblies, State conventions,
and the national convention of the Junior Sons of '76 of the
United States of America. Each subdivision " when compati-
ble with the public good and the best interest of the Order,"
was to nominate candidates for public office, from the president
of the United States down to county officers. To guard against
destruction coming from within, it was provided that ^' no
strictly professional person, practical politician, speculator, cor-
porator or monopolist, be admitted without a four-fifth vote of
all the active members of the lodge." The leading spirits in the
Order were John M. Davis, the editor of the Pittsburgh Na-
tional Labor Tribune, and D. D. Dunham, Altoona, Pennsyl-
vania.
The sphere of activity of the Order as such seems to have
been limited, but, since it counted among its members a number
of the prominent labour leaders in Pennsylvania, its influence
was not inconsiderable. It thus took the initiative in bringing
together all of the existing labour organisations and called a
national convention to meet December 28, 1875 at Tyrone,
Pennsylvania.^^
The invitation was accepted, not only by the Knights of
Labor, but also by the Social Democratic party of North Amer-
ica. This was the first appearance of socialism as an active
participant in the American labour movement, after many years
of struggle within the ranks of socialists on points of doctrine
and methods of organisation. These struggles, although un-
'known to the public and even to the labour movement at the
time, were important on account of their ultimate effect on trade
unionism and the labour movement.
29 The platform, however, did not ad- portance and as the only means of avert-
vocate Kellogg's scheme of interchange- ing coming disaster to the industrial and
able bonds and paper money. It merely commercial interests." Constitution of
set up the demand for an "enlightened the Junior Sons of '76 (Leaflet),
system of financial management in har- 30 Pittsburgh National Labor TribVine,
mony with the interests of the producing Jan. 3, X376.
masses ... [as being] of absolute to-
CHAPTER II
REVOLUTIONARY BEGINNINGS
The International Workingmen's Association. Its emphasis on trade
unionism, 204. Its attitude towards political action, 205. Ijassalle's pro-
gramme and the emphasis on political action, 206. Forerunners of the
International in America, 206. The Communist Club, 206. F. A. Sorge,
207. The General German Workingmen's Union and its Lassallean pro-
gramme, 207. The Social party of New York and Vicinity, 208. Failure
and reorganisation, 209. Union 5 of the National Labor Union and Sec-
tion 1 of the International, 209. New sections of the International, 209.
The Central Committee, 210. The native American forerunner of the In-
ternational, 210. Section 12, and its peculiar propaganda, 211. Rupture
between the foreigners and Americans in the International, 211. The Pro-
visional Federal Council, 212. The two rival Councils, 212. Decision of
the General Council in London, 213. American Confederation of the Inter-
national and its attitude on the question of the powers of the General
Council, 213. The North American Federation of the International, 214.
The Internationalist Congress at The Hague and the defeat of Bakunin by
Marx, 214. Transfer of the General Council to New York, 215. Secession
of a majority of the European national federations, 215. Section 1 of
New York and the Local Council, 216. Abolition of the Local Council,
216. National Convention of 1874 and the resolution on politics, 218. The
secession of six sections, 217. Adolph Strasser, 218. Panic and unem-
ployment, 219. Organisation of the unemployed, 219. The riot on
Tompkins Square, 220. John Swinton, 220. Organisation among the
unemployed in Chicago, 220. Section 1 of New York and the struggle for
the control of the Arheiter-Zeitung, 221. The United Workers of America,
222. P. J. McDonnell, 222.
The International and the Trade Union Movement. Lack of response
among the native American workingmen, 223. Success among the Germans,
223. Die Arheiter-Union, 223. Adolph Douai, 224. Temporary sway of
greenbackism among the Germans, 224. Victory of the ideas of the Inter-
national, 225. The Franco-Prussian War and the discontinuance of Die
Arheiter-Union, 225. Organisation of the furniture workers, 225. German-
American Typographia, 226. Amalgamated Trades and Labor Council of
New York, 226.
Lassalleanism and Politics. Effect of the industrial depression on the
spread of Lassalleanism, 227. The Labor party of Illinois and its form
of organisation, 228. Its attitude toward trade unionism and politics, 228.
Temporary Lassalleanisation of the sections of the International in Chicago,
229. The Labor party of Illinois in politics, 229, Overtures to farmers,
230. Pveturn to the principles of the International, 230. The Lassallean
movement in the East — The Social Democratic party of North America,
230. The first national convention, 231. Peter J. McGuire, 231. Eeasons
203 »
204 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
for Strasser's joining the Lassalleans, 231. The Sozial-Demokrat, 232.
Change of sentiment in favour of trade unionism, 232. The second conven-
tion of the Social Democratic party and the partial return to the tenets of
the International, 233. Attempts towards unification, 233. The remaining
divergence of ideas, 233. Preparations for the national labour conventions
in Pittsburgh, 234.
THE INTERNATIONAL WORKINGMEN'S ASSOCIATION
Modern American socialism began after tlie Civil War. The
socialistic movement during the fifties among the early German
immigrants, the so called " fortj-eighters," had been on the
whole no less Utopian than the native American Fourierism dur-
ing the forties. The Weitling movement/ which started in
1850 with the idea of a central bank of exchange, changed dur-
ing the next year to a programme of socialistic colonisation upon
the Fourierite pattern. Similarly, a German Workingmen's
Alliance, which grew out of the movement of the unemployed in
1857, in so far as it possessed a programme of action, aimed to
bring about a co-operative social order through an appeal to all,
without distinction of classes. Only for a short time during
1853 and 1854, which coincided with a period of general aggres-
sive trade union movement in the principal cities, did the
Marxian conception of the aims of a labour movement occupy the
foreground among the German immigrants of this country. The
short-lived General (or American) Workingmen's Alliance,
which was established by Joseph Weydemeyer, a close friend of
Karl Marx, in April, 1853, in 'New York City, was based upon
the principle of class struggle and recognised the necessity of
trade unionism and of political action.
The anti-slavery movement and the War absorbed all that re-
mained of idealism of the " forty-eighters," and the socialist
movement was obliged to begin over again in the sixties. The
new movement, however, was radically different from the old,
not only in its continuous existence, but also in its very nature.
It received its impulse from two new sources in Europe : the In-
ternational Workingmen's Association,, founded by Karl Marx
in London in 1864, and the Lassallean agitation in Germany,
begun in 1863. The first was economic, the second political.
The International is generally reputed to have been organised
1 See above, I, 512 et seq., 567 et seq.
SOCIALISM 206
by Karl Marx for the propaganda of international socialism.
As a matter of fact, its starting point was the practical effort of
British trade union leaders to organise the workingmen of the
continent and to prevent the importation of continental strike-
breakers. That Karl Marx wrote its Inaugural Address was
merely incidental. It chanced that what he wrote was accept-
able to the British unionists rather than the draft of an address
representing the views of Mazzini which was submitted to them
at the same time. Marx emphasised the class solidarity of
labour against, Mazzini^s harmony of capital and labour. He
did this by reciting what British labour had done through the
Rochdale system of co-operation without the help of capitalists,
and what the British parliament had done in enacting the ten-
hour law of 1847 against the protest of capitalists. Now that
British trade unionists in 1864 were demanding the right of
suffrage and laws to protect their unions, it followed that Marx
merely stated their demands when he affirmed the independent
economic and political organisation of labour in all lands. His
Inaugural Address was a trade union document, not a Conv-
munist Manifesto.^ Indeed not until Bakunin and his fol-
lowing of anarchists had nearly captured the organisation in
the years 1869 to 18Y2 ^ did the programme of socialism become
the leading issuCj^,^*-^
The philosophy of the International at the period oj^JXs
ascender f*Y waa haafid on the economic organisation of fhe work-
infr class in tradf> mii'^^° '"^^ ^^-opprptiyfi Rometies. These must
precede ttie political seizure of the government by labour.
Then, when the workingmen's party should achieve control, it
would be able to build up successfully the socialist state on the
foundation of a sufficient number of existing trade unions and
co-operative societies.
This conception differed widely from the teaching of Ferdi-
nand Lassalle. Lassallean socialism was bom in 1863 with Las-
salle's Open Letter to a workingmen's committee in Leipzig. It
2 See Jaeckh, Die Interaationale. Karl dies auf den ersten Blick" (Briefe und
Marx, in his letter to P. Bolte, says: Ausziige aua Brief en von Joh. PhU. Becker
•• Die Internationale wurde gestiftet, um . . . Karl Marx und A. an F. A. Sorge u.
die wirkliche Organization der Arbeiter- Andere, 38).
klasse fiir den Kampf an die Stelle der 3 For an excellent account of this strug-
sozialistischen oder halbsozialistischen gle, see Hunter's Violence and the Labor
Sekten zu setzen. Die ursprtinglichen Movement, 154—193.
Statuten wie die Inauguraladresse zeigen
206 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
sprang from his antagonism to Schulze-Delitzscli's system of
voluntary co-operation. In Lassalle's eagerness to condemn the
idea of the harmony of capital and labour which lay at the
basis of Schulze's scheme for co-operation, he struck at the same
time a blow against all forms of economic organisation of wage-
earners. Perhaps the fact that he was ignorant both of the
British trade unions and of workingmen's co-operation in Eng-
land accounts for his insufficient appreciation of the economic
organisation of wage-earners. But no matter what the cause
may have been, to Lassalle there was but one means of solving
the labour problem — political action. When political control
was finally achieved, the labour party, with the aid of State
credit, would build up a network of co-operative societies into
which eventually all industry would pass.
In short, the distinction between the ideas of the Interna-
tional and of Lassalle consisted in the fact that the former ad-
vocated economic organisation prior to and underlying political
organisation, while the latter considered a political victory as
the basis of economic organisation. These antagonistic start-
ing points are apparent at the very beginning of American so-
cialism as well as in the trade unionism and socialism of suc-
ceeding years.
Two distinct phases can be seen in the history of the Interna-
tional in America. During the first phase, which began in 1866
and lasted until 1870, the International had no important or-
ganisations of its o^n on American soil, but tried to establish
itself through affiliation with the National Labor Union. The
inducement held out to the latter was of a practical nature:
the international regulation of immigration.^ During the sec-
ond phase, the International had its sections in nearly every
large city of the country, and the practical part of its work re-
ceded before its activity on behalf of the propaganda of so-
cialism.
While the International, in the second phase of socialist pro-
paganda, did not establish itself on American soil until 1870,
there had been several forerunners. They were of two distinct
classes: German and native American. The earliest German
forerunner was the Communist Club in New York, a Marxian
4 See above, II, 131, 132.
SOCIALISM 207
organisation based on the Communist Manifesto and established
October 25, 1857. The membership was not large, but it com-
prised many who subsequently made themselves prominent in
the American International, such as F. A. Sorge,^ Conrad
Carl, and Siegfried Meyer. The club kept up connections with
the communist movement abroad, and among its correspondents
we find men like Karl Marx, Johann Philipp Becker of Geneva,
and Joseph Weydemeyer, the last named then residing in this
country. The Club declared itself a section of the Interna-
tional in October, 1867.®
The most important German forerunner of the International
was the General German Workingmen's Union (Der Allge-
meine Deutsche Arbeiterverein), which became subsequently
known as Section 1 of 'New York of the International. It is
noteworthy that it owed its origin to followers of Lassalle, for it
was formed in New York in October, 1865, by fourteen Las-
salleans.
The original constitution declared as follows : " Under the
name of the General German Workingmen's Union are united
all Social-Republicans, particularly those who regard Ferdinand
Lassalle as the most eminent champion of the working class, for
the purpose of reaching a true point of view on all social ques-
tions. . . . While in Europe only a general revolution can form
the means of uplifting the working people, in America, the edu-
cation of the masses will instill them with the degree of self-
confidence that is indispensable for the effective and intelligent
5 Sorge was the father of modern so- are created equal regardless of colour or
cialism in America. Born in Saxony, he sect — and that they therefore aspire to
took part in the revolution in Baden in abolish the so-called bourgeois property,
1849, after which he lived as a refugee in both inherited and acquired, in order to
Switzerland for two years. In 1851 he replace it by a reasonable participation in
went to London and thence to New York. earthly enjoyment, accessible to all, and
He earned his living as a music teacher. satisfying the needs of all." During the
At the congress of the International at campaign of 1868 the Club supported the
The Hague in 1872, Sorge formed a life- Social party of New York and Vicinity
long friendship with Marx and Engels and which was formed by the Lassallean Gen-
became their authorised interpreter in eral German Workingmen's Union, and
America, a position which he kept until Sorge even became president of the Social
his death in 1906. He contributed a party. The last session reported in the
series of articles in the Neue Zeit (Stutt- book of minutes was of Oct. 25, 1867.
gart) during 1890-1895, on the history Evidently the Club did not thrive after
of the labour movement in America. the failure of the Social party, for we find
6 Protokoll des Eommunistischen Kluhs that in November, 1869, it transferred its
in New York (1857-1867). MS. in library to the General Workingmen's Un-
library of the Rand School of Social Sci- ion which was then Section 1 of the In-
ence in New York. The constitution said ternational in America.
that the members "recognise that all men
208 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN" THE UNITED STATES
use of the ballot, and will eventually lead to the emancipa-
tion of the working people from the yoke of capital." It
further provided that " in case of the dissolution of the Union,
all Union property shall revert to the General German Work-
ingmen's Union in Germany."
It appears, however, that the New York Union was not very
orthodox in its Lassalleanism, for the proceedings show that an
address, which was sent in October, 1866, to the Union in Ger-
many, was objected to by a member as smacking too much of
the principles of the International. A month later, the Union
received an invitation from the county committee of the Re-
publican party to send a delegate to the county nominating
convention. The invitation was accepted, and President Weber
was elected delegate, but it was made plain to the county com-
mittee that the Union would not allow itself to be used as a tool
in their hands. In July, 1867, a delegate was sent to the
United Cabinet Makers in New York to urge this body to send
a delegate to the National Labor Union Congress in Chicago.
In the fall of 1868, the Union, in conjunction with the Com-
munist Club, formed the Social party of New York and Vi-
cinity, with Sorge as president. The party was not an avow-
edly socialistic party; instefid of the abolition of the wage sys-
tem, it demanded a series of social reform measures, such as
the progressive income tax, the abolition of national banks with
the right to issue paper money reserved only to the govern-
ment of the United States, the repeal of all Sunday laws, and
an eight-hour law. The constitution provided for two branches
of the organisation: an Aoiglo- American and a German- Ameri-
can. Each branch elected an executive council and the two
councils formed the chief executive of the party. The unit of
organisation was a ward, club, or trade union. Trade unions
were especially requested to join the party, and in case they
refused, new trade unions were to be organised in their places.
The duty of the executive council was to promote the or-
ganisation of trade unions in trades where none existed, and also
of co-operative societies in the field of production and distri-
bution.
The candidates nominated by the Social party evidently
made a poor showing in the election of 1868, for there can be
SOCIALISM 209
found no further trace of the party's existence. Nor can it
be definitely established whether the English-speaking working-
men, on whose account, evidently, the platform had been toned
down, really took part in the organisation. In January, 1869,
the Social party reorganised under the old name."^ It became
Union 5 of the National Labor Union in February, and Sec-
tion 1 of the International in December, 1869. It was also
represented by delegates in the German trade union federation
of New York — the Deutsche Arbeiter Union.®
After the reorganisation, the work of the Union was devoted
largely to self-education, propaganda, and especially to the
study of Das Kapital by Marx, which had just appeared. At
the weekly meetings, social and political questions were dis-
cussed, and the Union's attitude was expressed in the form of
resolutions. One of these resolutions stated that trade unions
were extremely useful in preventing further degradation of the
working class, but in their present form could not effect radical
changes in the social order. Siegfried Meyer was sent as a
delegate to the National Labor Union convention in Philadel-
phia in 1869 with instructions to advocate the eight-hour mea-
sure. At that time there were thirty-nine members in the
union. Sorge was the representative at the next annual con-
vention of the National Labor Union in Cincinnati and was
successful in forcing the passage of a resolution in favour of
affiliation with the International. On all other matters, par-
ticularly on the eight-hour question, Sorgo's resolutions at-
tracted but little attention.
Toward the end of 1870 several other foreign sections of the
International were formed. One was French, counting from
sixty to seventy members, and another was Bohemian. The
three sections drew up a provisional constitution for a central
committee and adopted it for one year, beginning with the mid-
dle of December, 1870. This gave an impetus to the growth of
the International. New sections were formed in New York,
Chicago, and Williamsburg.
In New York, the German Social Democratic Workingmen's
7 Sorge joined at this time. He found 8 ProtokoU Buck dea Allgemeinen
it difficult to gain admission, not being a Deutschen Arbeiter Vereins. MS. in li-
wage-earner, but, once admitted, he soon brary of the Rand School of Social Sci-
became the leading spirit. ence, New York.
210 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Union, which had been formed in September, 18Y0, by George
C. Stiebeling, a prominent socialist journalist, also joined the
International as Section 6. Thus in April, 1871, F. A. Sorge,
the corresponding secretary of the central committee, was able
to report to London the existence of 8 sections with 293 mem-
bers.^
Besides the radical immigrants there was another class of
people who welcomed the agitation of the International in
America. This was a group of native American intellectuals
among whom socialist sentiments had lingered from the Fourier-
ist movement in the forties. In 1869 they formed an organisa-
tion called New Democracy, or Political Commonwealth. The
principles expressed in their platform dated back to 1850, when
one William West, who now became their corresponding secre-
tary, had advocated, in the New York Daily Tribune, the
referendum and voluntary socialism as the true methods of so-
cial reform. The platform of the " New Democracy " like-
wise laid special stress on the referendum, but the socialism
it advocated was not voluntary but state socialism.
The New Democracy sent William West as a delegate to the
Philadelphia convention of the National Labor Union. He
tried to press the referendum upon the convention, but met with
no success. On October 11, 1869, the New Democracy
sent to the General Council of the International in London an
address, drawn up by Stephen Pearl Andrews, ^^ the Ameri-
can anarchist. In it he pointed out that the National Labor
Union was twenty years behind the times, and that the New
Democracy was the only organisation in the field that under-
stood the situation : ^' Our organisation can rightfully claim,
both through ideas and by immediate personal affiliations, to be
the direct successor, if not the actual continuator, of the in-
dustrial congress and labour and land reform movement of
twenty and twenty-five years ago in the country." ^^
The New Democracy disbanded in 1870, and its members
organised in the summer of 1871 two native American sections
of the International, No. 9 and No. 12, both in New York City.
The latter, headed by two sisters, Victoria Woodhull and Ten-
9 Oopy-book of the International in lO Revolution (New York), Oct. 28,
North America, 4. 1869, p. 260,
11 See above, I, 547 et aeq.
SOCIALISM 211
nessee Claflin, notorious advocates of woman suffrage and " so-
cial freedom/' became the leading American section, and ulti-
mately caused a split between the foreign and the native Ameri-
can branch of the International.
The Provisional Central Committee of the International
Workingmen's Association in America was in the beginning
highly successful in centralising and furthering the interna-
tionalist propaganda. It was particularly fortunate in its secre-
tary, F. A. Sorge, whose reports ^^ to the General Council in
London show a thorough understanding of current American
events, and particularly of the labour movement. He estab-
lished intimate connections with the State Workingmen's As-
sembly of New York, of which William J. Jessup was then
president. Friendly relations were also formed with the
Miners' Benevolent and Protective Association in the anthra-
cite district of Pennsylvania, which was then involved in a pro-
longed strike. But the success of the propagandist work among
the labour organisations was soon imperilled by the activity of
Section 12 and allied English-speaking sections.
In the report to the General Council, dated August 6, 1871,
F. A. Sorge said : " Section 12 is rather diligently discussing
the subject of universal language and working through the
press." ^^ In the report dated October 1, 1871, he stated:
" Section 12 is rather zealous in spreading its ideas of the I. W.
A. abroad through the medium of ' Woodhull and Claflin' s
Weekly ' and trying to create a favourable public opinion in the
circles reached by the above ' Weekly.' " ^^ In the letter to
R. T. Hinton, corresponding secretary of American Section
20 at Washington, D. C, dated October 10, 1871, it was said:
" The manifesto signed by William West and published in a
certain ' Weekly,' in behalf of Section 12 of ISTew York City,
was published and issued without the authority or consent of the
Central Committee." ^^ In the report to London, dated IsTo-
vember 5, 1871, the same writer stated : " A lively and warm
discussion has been going on in the different sections in rela-
tion to an ^ Appeal ' issued by Section 12." ^^ He described the
character of this appeal as follows : " The Woodhull-Claflin
12 Doc Hist., IX, 353-370.
15 Ibid.,
55.
13 Copy-book, 35.
16 Ibid.,
71.
14 Ibid., 63.
212 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Section (No. 12) issued a call to the ^ citizens of the union *
full of empty phraseology. Section 1 protested against it — in
vain so far. The right of woman to vote and to hold office,
the freedom of sexual relations, universal language, pantarchy
were preached hy Section 12 and slanders were thrown against
all opponents.'^ ^^
The newspapers took it up and the country rocked with
laughter. A rupture between the German and American ele-
ments in the organisation became imminent. Each tried to
win over the General Council in London to its side. Section
12 petitioned the General Council for a permit to constitute
itself as the leading section in America, a position hitherto occu-
pied by German Section 1 of New York. The General Council
in London rejected the petition, though several of its members,
notably John Hales and J. George Eccarius sympathised with
the petitioner.
Finally came the split. On November 20, 18Y1, the delegates
of fourteen sections (8 German, 3 Irish, 2 French, and 1 Ameri-
can) met separately and dissolved the Central Committee. Two
weeks later they organised a Provisional Federal Council, with
a constitution identical with that of the old Central Committee ;
and finally decided to call a national convention in July to
legalise the coup d'etat. The delegates of Section 12 and cer-
tain sympathising sections protested vigorously, and claimed,
for a time, to be the regular Central Committee. The other
side offered to reunite under the following conditions:
" 1. Only the labor question to be treated in the organisa-
tion.
" 2. Only new sections to be admitted, when at least two-
thirds of their members are wage laborers.
" 3. Section 12 and sections formed on its ^ appeal ' to be
excluded, as being strangers to the Labor movement.'^ ^^
These conditions, of course, were not acceptable to Section
12 which was entirely composed of intellectuals. It organised,
therefore, with the aid of other sympathising sections, a Fed-
eral Council of its own. This organisation held meetings some-
times on Prince Street and sometimes on Spring Street, and was
IT Becker, Dietzgen, Engels, Marx, Sorge und andere, Brief e und Auazuge aus
Briefen, 31.
18 Copy-book, 83.
SOCIALISM 213
accordingly known either by the name of the Spring Street Fed-
eral Council, or the Prince Street Federal Council. The Gen-
eral Council at London appointed a special committee to investi-
gate the state of affairs in America, and, in March, 1872, the
decision was handed down ordering the expulsion of Section 12
and the calling of a Union Congress in July, 1872.^^
Section 12 and adhering sections refused to abide by the
decision and called a national conevntion of their own.^^ It
met in Philadelphia on July 9, 1872, thirteen sections, mostly
English-speaking, being represented, and organised the Ameri-
can Confederation of the International. The following an-
nouncement was made to the General Council in London, which
put the new " Confederation '' squarely in opposition to the
Marxians: ". , . While proclaiming ourselves to be in har-
mony with the working people of the world, we reserve to our-
selves the right to regulate this branch of the International
Workingmen's Association without dictation from the General
Council in London, England, except so far as its decrees may be
consistent with the orders of the General (or Universal) Con-
gresses of the Association, in which we may be represented as
from time to time they may be held." The opposition to the
General Council did not, however, mean an endorsement of the
anarchistic views of Bakunin, although the division in America
between Sorge and the American believers in extreme freedom
was similar to that in Europe between Marx and Bakunin. The
Americans believed in politics and made ready for participa-
tion in the next political campaign. A delegation of three,
headed by William West, was selected to represent the Con-
federation at the next general congress at The Hague. ^^
19 The conditions prescribed by the de- 6. Section 12 should be expelled until
cision were as follows: the next general congress, to be held
1. Both councils should unite into one at The Hague.
Provisional Federal Council. 7. Each section must be composed of at
2. New and small sections should com- least two- thirds of wage-earners,
bine for sending delegates to the From the original communication found
central body. among Sorge's Msa.
3. On the first of July, a general con- 20 John Hales, a member of the Na-
gress of the International in America tional Council for Great Britain, sent a
should be held. letter to Section 12 with his approval of
4. This congress should elect a Federal that course. Woodhull and Claflin'a
Cduncil with a right to adopt new Weekly, June 15, 1872.
members. 21 First Congress of the American Con-
5. It should also firmly establish the federation of the International Working-
rules and regulations of the Federal men's Association, Proceedings, 1872.
councils.
214 HISTORY OF LABOUR IK THE UNITED STATES
The convention of the regular (Marxian) organisation met a
few days later in the same city with 25 delegates from 22 sec-
tions, having a total membership of over 900. It declared itself
to be in complete harmony with the General Council and em-
phasised the necessity of a strongly centralised organisation.
The constitution, accordingly, gave the Federal Council the
power to suspend sections until the next congress, and prescribed
that local councils be formed in cities with three or more sec-
tions in order further to centralise the propaganda. In contra-
distinction to its rival, this convention did not recognise the
time as ripe for political action, but affirmed in a general way
that the duty of the ^orth American Federation of the Inter-
national was " to rescue the working classes from the influence
and power of all political parties and to show that the exis-
tence of all these parties is a crime and a threat against the
working classes " ; and ^^ to combine the working classes for
independent common action for their own interest, without
imitating the corrupt organisations of the present political
parties." ^^ Sorge and Deveure were elected delegates to The
Hague.
At the Congress of The Hague, in 1872, only Sorge and West
represented their respective organisations; the other delegates
could not be present on account of lack of means. The Ameri-
cans received more than their share of the attention of the strug-
gling factions. The Bakuninists attacked Sorgo's credentials
but he in turn denied West's right to take his seat. The com-
mittee on credentials, which was packed by Marx's supporters,
reported favourably on Sorge and threw out West's credentials.
West appealed to the Congress, and in the discussion which en-
sued Sorge gave as the reason why the native American sec-
tions were not entitled to representation that the native Ameri-
cans were practically all speculators, while the immigrants alone
constituted the wage-earning class in America. ^^
West did not take his seat. The Marxists carried the con-
gress and expelled Bakunin from the International. Realising,
however, that the control was already slipping from their hands,
22 Copybook, 132-14:1. ciation (The Hague, September, 1872),
23 Protokoll des 5ten Allgemeinen Eon- 47. 50. Sorge Mss.
greases der Intemationalen Arbeiter Asso-
SOCIALISM . 215
they transferred the General Council from London to New
York, away from Bakunin's influence, and into the hands of
the trustworthy Sorge. It is true, the honour thus conferred
upon the American Federation was but empty, for, after this
congress, the International rapidly disintegrated in Europe, in
consequence of the secession of the various national federations.
Still, it helped considerably to prolong the life of the Ameri-
can Federation, and from this point of view the gift was a real
one.
While Sorge remained in Europe during the summer and
autumn of 1872 the American Federation showed but few signs
of life. Matters became more active on his return. He was
elected, as a matter of course, general secretary of the Interna-
tional, and went earnestly to work to prevent the seemingly in-
evitable disintegration of the organisation entrusted to his care.
But his duties were far from pleasant. The federations which
held the Bakuninist view on organisation felt little inclined to
acquiesce either in the expulsion of Bakunin by The Hague
congress, or in the transfer of the General Council with enlarged
powers to 'New York. One after another they repudiated the
decisions of that Congress, and to Sorge fell the dreary duty of
expelling them from the International. The Jurassian Federa-
tion, Bakunin's stronghold, set the example of repudiation, and
was followed by the federations of Spain, Italy, Belgium, and
Holland. In England, likewise, a part of the Federation se-
ceded under the leadership of Hales and Young and formed a
rival Federal Council. The Danish Federation decided to re-
main neutral, but refused to transmit dues. In Germany, the
Eisenacher (Marxian) faction of the socialist movement, though
it adhered to the International, was too much absorbed in the
problems of the German movement to pay much attention to
the International with its transatlantic headquarters. In Aus-
tria the movement became divided into two struggling factions,
and the General Council could expect but little support from
this direction. Thus the influence of the General Council in
New York hardly extended to the other side of the Atlantic.
In September, 18T3, the last congress of the International was
held in Geneva. The General Council was financially unable
216 HISTORY OF LABOUB IN THE UNITED STATES
to be directly represented, and the Congress adjourned without
accomplishing anything. ^^
While in Europe the situation was more than gloomy, in
America it looked at first very encouraging. In February,
18 73, the German sections of the country had established a
weekly paper in l^ew York called the Arbeiter-Zeitung which
helped to put new life into the work of the Federation. The
annoyance from the rival Confederation also ceased, for the lat-
ter soon fell into a state of lethargy and died a peaceful death
after two more years of nominal existence. However, peace did
not last long, for war soon broke out within the Federation.
The trouble began over the domineering attitude of Section 1
towards the remaining sections. This section was the oldest in
the Federation and controlled all the administrative bodies. It
had a clear majority in the General Council and in the board
of directors of the Arbeiter-Zeitung. The two editors of the
paper, Carl and Starke, as well as Sorge, the general secretary,
were members. In the Federal Council it had no definite ma-
jority, but, since the two Irish members, Cavanaugh and Blis-
sert, owed their seats to Section 1 and voted as it desired, its
control of the Federal Council as well as of the General Council,
was undisputed. The Irish members had no sections to repre-
sent, but were taken in merely in order not to lose complete con-
tact with the Irish workingmen.
Of the central bodies in the various cities, the only one which
Section 1 was unable to control was the Local Council in New
York City, composed of 5 members, one from each of the 5 sec-
tions in the city (Numbers 1, 6, and 8, German, No. 2, French,
and No. 3, Scandinavian). Consequently, on July 17, 1873,
Section 1 submitted to the Federal Council, to be further
submitted to a referendum vote by the sections, a resolution to
the effect that there should be no local council in the locality
where the Federal Council resided. Meanwhile, it was decided
by the sections, upon the recommendation of the Federal Coun-
cil, that there should be no convention in 1873, and the New
York sections elected in August a new Federal Council, with
Bolte, of Section 1, as corresponding secretary and Stiebeling,
24 The hard uphill fight which Sorge tested by his voluminous correspondence
conducted in order to keep the Interna- with Europe during the time of his tenure
tional from falling to pieces is amply at- of the office of general secretary.
SOCIALISM 217
of Section 6, as treasurer. On October 9, the result of the
referendum vote became known. It was as follows: ten in
favour of the abolition of the Local Council, four against, and
two not voting. The four negative votes came from the ISTew
York sections. These sections decided to disregard the referen-
dum vote and to retain the Local Council, claiming that the Fed-
eral Council had no right to call a vote on a constitutional
amendment. As a consequence, the Federal Council suspended
Section 8, Avhich contained the leaders of the opposition. The
situation became more complicated when it was known that the
International Congress in Geneva had decided to leave the Gen-
eral Council in America, and the 'New York sections were
obliged to make nominations for a new General Council. Sec-
tion 1 tried to postpone the nominations because it felt that the
control was slipping away from its hands. When that failed,
Bolte resigned as secretary, and Stiebeling took over his duties.
The next move of Section 1 was to impeach the Federal Council
before the General Council in which it had a safe majority.
The General Council responded to the appeal; it set aside the
Federal Council and took over its functions until the next na-
tional convention, which was set for April 11, 18Y4, to meet
at Philadelphia. It affirmed the suspension of Section 8, also
suspended Section 6, and finally ended by expelling Dr.
Stiebeling from the International because he, as treasurer of
the new Federal Council, had refused to surrender its prop-
erty.^''
At the national convention Section 1 was in complete control,
for of the 19 sections represented, only Sections 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8
of New York and Section 1 of Williamsburg belonged to the
opposition. So that the action of the General Council was up-
held and Sections 2 and 5 were suspended. The spokesman
for the opposition was a recent immigrant from Germany by the
name of Adolph Strasser,^^ the man who, upon becoming presi-
dent of the Cigar Makers' International Union in 1877, was the
first to start a revival in the trade union movement.
25 Stiebeling, Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte secession from Section 1. Strasser had
der Internationale in Nord America; also probably participated in the labour move-
Copy-book, 326-333. ment in Germany. He came to America
26 Adolph Strasser represented Section in the early seventies.
5 of New York, which was formed by a
218 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UMTED STATES
The convention changed the form of the organisation by
permanently abolishing the Federal Council and putting its
functions in the hands of the General Council. A commission
of control was established with its seat in Baltimore. These
drastic measures were hardly conducive to harmony. The oppo-
sition permanently left the International and, as will be seen,
formed, in conjunction with a number of Lassalleans, the Social
Democratic party of ITorth America, with Strasser as national
secretary.
If the convention in Philadelphia failed to reconcile the con-
tending factions, it nevertheless established a landmark in the
history of American socialism. For it formulated a position
on political action which throughout the seventies one important
faction in the movement considered as the classical statement of
its position on the question. The resolution was as follows:
" The North American Federation rejects all co-operation and
connection with the political parties formed by the possessing
classes, whether they call themselves Republicans or Democrats, or
Independents, or Liberals, or Patrons of Industry, or Patrons of
Husbandry (Grangers), or Reformers, or whatever name they may
adopt. Consequently, no member of the Federation can belong any
longer to such a party, and whosoever may accept a place or position
of one of these parties, without being authorised by his Section and
by the Federal Council, will be suspended during the time he keeps
this place or position.
" The political action of the Federation confines itself generally
to the endeavor of obtaining legislative acts in the interest of the
working class proper, and always in a manner to distinguish and
separate the workingmen's party from all the political parties of the
possessing classes.
" As proper subjects of such legislative action may be considered :
The normal working day, the responsibility of all employers in case
of accidents, the securing of wages, the abolition of the working of
children in manufactories, sanitary measures, the establishment of
bureaus of statistics of labor, the abolition of all indirect taxes.
" The Federation will not enter into a truly political campaign or
election movement before being strong enough to exercise a percep-
tible influence, and then, in the first place, on the field of the munici-
pality, town or city (Commune), whence this political movement
may be transferred to the larger communities (Counties, States,
United States), according to circumstances, and always in con-
formity with the Congress Resolutions.
" It is evident that during such a municipal or communal move-
SOCIALISM 219
ment, demands of a purely local character may be put forth, but
these demands must not be contrary in anything to the general
demands, and they are to be approved by the Federal Council.
" Considering : That the economical emancipation of the work-
ingmen is the great end to which every political movement ought to
be subordinated as a means." ^"^
During the later seventies the injunction not to enter " into
a truly political campaign or election movement before being
strong enough to exercise a perceptible influence " was generally
understood by its advocates to mean that no participation in
elections should be attempted before a sufficient number of trade
unions had been organised and formed into a labour party.
The systematic emphasis which, since the time of its first for-
mation in 1864, was laid by the International upon the supreme
importance of organising trade unions, proves that to put this
construction on the words of the resolution of 1874 was substan-
tially correct.
The strife within the International during 1873-1874 pre-
vented it from taking a leading part in the labour movement
which grew out of the financial panic of September, 1873. The
agitation among the unemployed became strong in ISTew York
towards the end of October. Had the International been har-
monious within, it could have led the general movement in the
city. However, knowing well its limitations, it took no action
as a body. But the Federal Council in an advisory capacity
worked out a plan by which its members might effectively assist
in the work of relief. The plan suggested that the field should
be limited at first to the wards inhabited by the German work-
men, which should be organised to demand from the munici-
pality : 1. Employment on public works at customary wages ;
2. Advances of either money or food sufficient to last one week
to all who suffer actual want; and, 3. That no one shall be
ejected from his dwelling for the non-pa-^onent of rent. The
workingmen in the tenth ward organised on this basis, and
began to collect data on unemployment and want. ISTot all
members of the International, however, agreed to this modest
plan. Some of them wanted to organise the entire city, and,
for this purpose called a mass meeting. The meeting, mostly
27 Leaflet.
220 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
German, could hardly claim to represent all the workingmen of
'New York, but, nevertheless it elected a Central Committee.
Contemporaneously, a meeting of the English-speaking work-
ing-men elected a Safety Committee in which the hitherto slum-
bering Spring Street Federal Council of the International was
largely represented. The Central Committee and the Safety
Committee agreed to co-operate, and, after several mass meet-
ings had been held, they called a gigantic demonstration in the
form of a procession of unemployed for January 13, 1874.. It
was the original plan of the Committee that the parade should
disband after a mass meeting in front of the city hall, but this
was prohibited by the authorities, and Tompkins Square was
chosen as the next best place for the purpose. The parade was
fonned at the appointed hour, and by the time it reached Tomp-
kins Square it had swelled to an immense procession. Here
they were met by a force of policemen and, immediately after
the order to disperse had been given, the police charged with
drawn clubs. During the ensuing panic, hundreds of workmen
were injured. ^^ The brutal conduct of the police on Tompkins
Square left an indelible impression upon the mind of the main
speaker at the meeting, the journalist, John Swinton,^^ and
strengthened his already awakened sympathies for the cause of
labour. The riot practically put an end to the movement in
New York.
A similar movement was started in Chicago by the Interna-
tional sections in conjunction with a few other labour organisa-
tions. A grand procession of unemployed was held on Decem-
ber 12, 18Y3, but without the atrocities of the New York police.
The city council promised to do all in its power, but did not
28 New York Arheiter-Zeitung , Jan. 24 lowing the Tompkins' Square riot, he was
and 31, Feb. 7 and 14, 1874; Copy-book, nominated by the working people for
326-333; New York Times, Jan. 14, 1874. mayor of New York, but received only a
29 Swinton was born in 1830 in Scot- few hundred votes. During the great
land and was brought to America at the strikes of July, 1877, he addressed a huge
age of thirteen. He learned the printer's mass meeting in Union Square. In 1880
trade in Montreal. In 1850 he removed he made a trip to Europe and met Karl
to New York, where he studied law and Marx in London. In 1883 he started a
medicine, while engaging as a printer. weekly paper, John Swinton's Paper, for
He soon progressed from the composing the purpose of advocating the cause of
room to the editorial chair. He was man- labour. After its discontinuance in
aging editor of the New York Times dur- 1887, he continued in the field of jour-
ing the Civil War. In 1870 he joined the nalism and remained a champion of la-
staff of the New York Sun and became in hour to the last. He died in 1901.
1871, chief writer on that paper. Fol-
SOCIALISM 221
keep its promise, so that the movement had no practical results,
except that it led, as will be seen, to the formation of the Labour
party of Illinois, with a Lassallean programme.
'No sooner had the strife between Section 1 and the other New
York sections been aUayed than a new and more serious con-
flict broke out. The International was suffering the fate of
every revolutionary organisation of immigrants who, feeling
unable to bring any power to bear upon the government and
ruling classes, eventually turn against each other. This time
the rebels were members of Section 1, who turned against Sorge
on account of the changes he made in the editorial personnel
of the Arheiter-Z eitung. Sorge felt dissatisfied with the colour-
less matter with which the editors, Carl and Starke, filled the
columns of the paper, and therefore, persuaded the board of di-
rectors to engage Wilhelm Liebknecht to send bi-weekly corre-
spondence from Germany at $10 per month. Carl felt incensed
over Sorgo's meddling, and began to look for an opportunity to
overthrow his influence. The opportunity came with a letter
published in Die Gleicheit (Vienna), the organ of the Austrian
tiocialists, in which the General Council was accused of having
aided by its inaction the faction led by one Oberwinder, later
shown to have been a government spy. Carl embraced the
chance and accused Sorge of having betrayed the interests of
the workingmen in the Austrian controversy. Sorge became
Aveary of the permanent strife and resigned both from the Gen-
eral Council and the board of directors of the Arheiter-Z eitung.
However, at the next meeting of the board of directors, he was
induced to withdraw his resignation and was promised more
influence on the paper. This led Carl and his followers to ar-
range for a coup d'etat. They declared the paper to be under
the protection of Section 1, and the latter gave Bolte a guard of
ten men to defend its possession by force. In retaliation the
General Council suspended Section 1, and expelled Carl and
Bolte from the International. At the same time it brought
action in court against Carl for unlawfully taking possession
of the property that belonged to all the German sections in the
country. The court decided, January, 18Y5, against Carl, but
the paper was discontinued two months later for lack of sup-
222 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
port.^^ The outcome was that the paper was discontinued in
March, 1875, and the organisation of the International was
wrecked to such a degree that it practically ceased to exist. No
convention was therefore held in 1875.
The only encouraging event to the International during 1875
was the affiliation of the United Workers of America, a small
organisation of Irish workingmen, headed by J. P. McDonnell,^^
with General Rules identical with those of the International.^^
McDonnell and his associates played an important part in the
socialist movement of the next few years, and he became, like
Adolph Strasser, one of the pioneers of the new trade union
movement.
In all other respects the International was rapidly breaking
down. Throughout the European countries the workingmen
were building up political parties in place of the federations of
the International. In America, the same tendency towards a
political party was manifesting itself, so that there was nothing
left for the International but to merge itself in such a party.
On July 15, 1876, a congress attended by delegates from
nineteen American sections met in Philadelphia and officially
dissolved the International Workingmen's Association.^^
30 An die Leser und Thetlhdber der son, and was sentenced to two months'
Arbeiter-Zeitung. (Pamphlet signed by imprisonment and a fine of $500. The
the board of directors and the Commis- latter was promptly paid by a subscription
sion of Control of the paper, New York, among the workingmen of Paterson. He
1874.) was again arrested and sentenced to a
31 J. P. McDonnell was born in Dublin, short term of imprisonment in 1880 for
Ireland, in a middle-class family. He publishing a letter disclosing the terrible
took part in the Fenian movement and conditions existing in the brick-making
suffered repeated imprisonment, and was yards in Paterson. McDonnell remained
closely related to Marx and the Interna- the foremost leader in the labour move-
tional after 1869. He went to The ment in New Jersey. He organised the
Hague as a representative of Ireland at New Jersey State Federation of Trades
the Congress of the International, and and Labor Unions in 1883, of which he
from there to New York to settle in Amer- was chairman for fifteen years, and the
ica. With the dissolution of the Inter- trades' assembly of Paterson in 1884, and
national, McDonnell joined its American- was responsible for the Labor Day law
ised successor, the Workingmen's party of the State in 1887, the first law of the
of the United States, and assumed the kind in the United States. He was a
editorship of the official English organ, member of the Anti-Poverty Association
the New York Labor Standard. In 1877, organised in 1887 by Henry George iand
when the party became the Socialist La- Doctor McGlynn. He died in 1906.
bor party, devoted exclusively to politics, 32 General Rules of the Association of
he broke away and moved his paper first United Workers of America (Pamphlet,
to Fall River and then to Paterson. In New York, 1874) ; Doc. Hist., IX, 376-
1878 he organised the International La- 378.
bor Union with a programme of organising 33 Internationale Arbeiter-Association,
the unskilled. About the same time he Verhandlungen der Delegirten-Konferem
became involved in a libel suit for apply- zu Philadelphia, 15 Juli, 187^ (Pamphlet,
ing the name " scab " to strike-breakers in New York, 1876).
connection with a textile strike in Pater-
GERMAN TRADE UNIONS 223
THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION MOVEMENT
True to its philosophy, the International, as soon as it became
firmly established in America, began a campaign having as its
object the organisation of new trade unions and the propagation
of its principles among the unions that already existed. The
success met with among the English-speaking workingmen was
anything but gratifying. The strong prejudice aroused by the
Commune in Paris was soon turned against the International in
this country, and this became mingled with the mocking con-
tempt for the notorious exploits of Section 12. On the other
hand, among the non-English-speaking wage-earners, particu-
larly among the Germans, the ideas of the International soon
became a potent force. But even there a certain amount of
passive resistance was met with on one side from a survival of
the Schulze-Delitzsch ideas of voluntary co-operation, which
had attained popularity in 1864,^* and, on the other side, froni
a strong disposition in favour of greenbackism that proceeded
from the general labour movement of the period.
The principal centre of the German trade union movement
was New York, where a German trades' assembly called Die
Arbeiter Union was formed early in 1866,^^ and became affili-
ated with the National Labor Union. In June, 1866, several
of the largest unions ^^ established an Arheiter-Union Publish-
ing Association and issued a paper of the same name, with one
Doctor Landsberg as editor. During his brief period of editor-
ship the philosophy of the paper was a curious mixture of trade
unionism and the Schulze-Delitzsch system of voluntary co-
operation seasoned by a strong aversion to political action.^'''
Dr. Landsberg resigned in October, ^^ after the New York con-
vention of the National Labor Union had declared for the im-
mediate formation of a labour party. The new editor was a
34 During 1864-1865 some of the Ger- 35 Boston Daily Evening Voice, Mar. 7,
man trade unionists in New York became 1866.
interested in voluntary co-operation. 36 The United Cabinet-makers with
They established a paper, the New Yorker 2,000 members, the marble cutters' union
Arbeiter-Zeitung, which espoused the with 400, the German varnishers, the
tenets of Hermann Schultze-Delitzsch, who piano makers, and cigar makers No. 90.
was then at the height of his popularity in Die Arbeiter-Union (New York), June 13,
Germany as the " apostle of voluntary- 1866.
ism." 37 Ibid., July 11 and 25, 1868.
38 Ibid., Oct. 31, 1868.
224 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
man who subsequently became the most interesting personage
in the American socialist movement, Adolph Douai.^^
Under Douai's careful editorship the paper became a real
mirror of trade conditions and of the labour movement. It
summed up the year 1868 as one during which " labor had
wrested bigger concessions than in all of the ten years pre-
ceding^" ^^ His general philosophy was at this time in essence
the greenbackism of the National Labor Union. He declared
that the chief enemy of labour was capital in the fluid state of
money capital, bearing an exorbitant rate of interest.*^ Yet
the remedy he offered, while based on Kellogg's idea, was very
different from the one officially adopted by the National Labor
Union. He insisted that " the government should first raise by
a resumption of specie payment the value of the greenbacks to
a par with gold and only then install the scheme of the inter-
changeable bonds and gTeenbacks," whereby he said, '^ it would
be possible, first, gradually to reduce the rate of interest upon
the present national debt without any losses, and second, to
protect the value of the new paper money." *^
Meantime, the influence of the International was growing in
the German trades' assembly, being propagated by Sorge and
39 Adolph Douai was born in 1819 at established a three-graded school with a
Altenburg, Germany, in a poor family of kindergarten, the first kindergarten tried
French 4migr6s. He studied in the gym- in America. However, an imprudent
nasium and university and graduated as speech made at the commemoration of the
** candidate in theology." But being too death of Humboldt, in which the latter
poor to get established as instructor in the was given special praise for atheism,
University of Jena, his original plan, he forced him to leave Boston for Hoboken,
accepted a position as a private tutor in N. J., where he became director of the
the family of a rich Russian land owner newly founded Hoboken Academy. But
and passed the examination for the doc- his advanced views again prevented a suc-
tor's degree at the University of Dorpat, cessful teaching career and he soon left
Russia. He then returned to Altenburg and established a school of his own in New
and established a private school. The York. While in this position, he assumed
idealistic educator was at the same time the editorship of Die Arbeiter Union,
an ardent social and political reformer, so which he conducted until it went under
that the year 1848 found him the leading in 1870, and after eight more years of
spirit of the revolution in Altenburg. teaching he became coeditor of the New
After the victory of the counter revolution, Yorker Volkszeitung at the time of its
he successfully defended himself in a trial foundation in 1878. He kept this posi-
for high treason, but was obliged immedi- tion until his death in 1888. He became
ately thereafter to spend a year in prison Marxian in the early seventies and was
for an attack he made upon the govern- the first populariser of Marxism in Amer-
ment in the press. Coming out of prison ica. He enjoyed an authority in the so-
he was not allowed to continue his school cialist movement second only to that of
and therefore migrated to Texas in 1852 Sorge. See his autobiography in the New
and established a small paper in San Yorker Yolkszeitung, No. 4, 1888.
Antonio. His paper being of the abo- 40 Die Arbeiter Union, Jan, 2, 1869.
litionist tendency, he was obliged to leave 4i Ibid., Apr. 3, 1869.
San Antonio after three years of hard *2 Ibid., Jan. 16, 1869.
struggle and went to Boston, where he
GERMAN TRADE UNIOISrS 225
Carl, delegates from the General German Workingmen's Union.
Douai also fell under their influence and the paper began to
print extracts from Marx's Das Kapital, along with selections
from Kellogg's Money and other Capital. Finally, in the sum-
mer of 1870 the trades' assembly decided to affiliate with the
International in Europe, mainly because this would give it a
degree of control over immigration.*^ Furthermore, the dele-
gates to the convention of the JSTational Labor Union of that
year were instructed to work for the incorporation into the plat-
form of the demand for government ownership of all means of
transportation. However, the instructions included also an en-
dorsement of Kellogg's greenbackism.
The breaking out of the Franco-Prussian War caused strife
and confusion in the German movement. The socialistic ele-
ment placed itself in opposition to the war, in accordance with
the manifesto issued by the General Council of the Interna-
tional, and was strongly supported by Douai in his paper. The
trades' assembly took the same attitude and issued an address
against the war to the " workingmen of ITew York and vicin-
ity." ** The separate unions, however, were almost evenly di-
vided on both sides, and the paper, which practically depended
only upon private subscriptions, was made to bear the brunt of
the fight waged by the patriotic workingmen, and finally suc-
cumbed in September, 1870. The last issue named the war as
the cause of its death. *^ The dissensions had a similar effect
upon the trade unions themselves. Sorge stated in his monthly
report to the General Council of the International at London
for July, 1871, that " Trade Unions in general hold their own
except the German unions, which are unfortunately losing
ground presently." *® The report for October mentioned that
" seven German Unions have combined again to maintain the
Arbeiter-Union, and the Cabinetmakers' Union (German) of
^ew York City have taken energetic steps to inaugurate an
8-hour movement in their trade and to organise and combine
their fellow tradesmen all over the country on a firm basis." ^'^
The organisation of the furniture workers was under the
complete control of the International. The first national con-
43 Ibid., Mav 11, 1870. 46 Copy-hook, 38.
44 Ibid., July 80, 1870. 47 Ibid., 70.
45 Ibid., Sept. 17, 1870.
226 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
vention which met in Cincinnati in July, 1873, fully embraced
the philosophy of the International in a resolution which " rec-
ommended to the workingmen first to organise into trade unions,
then to form a labor party in order to elect representatives of
the working class to the highest political offices/' ^^ The con-
vention declined, however, to accept the proposal made by the
cabinetmakers of Liege, Belgium, and transmitted through
Sorge, for the international organisation of the trade. It was
feared that the name ^^ International " might carry with it asso-
ciations which would frighten away from the organisation many
American cabinetmakers, who had a strong prejudice against
the International Workingmen's Association.^^
In 1877 the Furniture Workers' National Union had 13
locals in 11 cities with 1,369 members,^^ and the statistics gath-
ered from its members by the largest local, No. 7 of New York,
show an average weekly wage of $11.87 ^^ with only 1.7 per
cent of the total number receiving the wage that was prevalent
before the crisis, the remaining 98.3 per cent having their wage
reduced 10 to 50 per cent.^^ In other words, this socialist
union fared in the depression no better and no worse than the
other trade unions in the country. The national executive board
of the union admitted in the annual report for 1877 that the
union had followed a mistaken policy of conducting its agita-
tion only among the Germans. ^^ The other German national
union, the German-American Typographia, also organised in
1873, was a non-socialist union, notwithstanding that its official
organ expressed sympathy with socialism.^* One-third of the
membership in Chicago were socialists.^*^
The Trades and Labour Council of New York was reorgan-
ised in April, 1876, upon the initiative of the German trade
unions. J. G. Speyer and J. P. McDonnell, both members of
the International, were the leading spirits in the new body. It
is significant that in order not to frighten away the American
unions, no socialist phraseology appeared in the Declaration of
Principles. This once more bears out the contention that the
48 New York Arbeiter-Zeitung, July 26,
52 Ibid.,
Feb. 4. 1876.
1873.
53 Ibid.,
Dec. 15, 1877.
49 Ihid.
54 Ibid.,
, Jan. 6, 1877.
60 Chicago Vorbote, Dec. 15, 1877.
55 Ibid.,
May 16, 1876.
51 Of its members, 47 V2 per cent had
steady work.
SOCIALISM 227
International in America placed the organisation of workmen
into trade unions above the interests of the socialist propa-
ganda.^®
LASSALLEANISM AND POLITICS
As shown above, the first Lassallean organisation was formed
in this country in 1865, but in 1868, after an unsuccessful first
attempt in politics, it reorganised as a section of the Interna-
tional. The great prosperity from 1869 to 1873 and the rapid
growth of the trade unions during these years, which was true
equally of the industries employing immigrant German, French,
or Bohemian labour, and native American labour, minimised
the influence of the Lassallean ideas among the immigrant
masses. Accordingly, as already stated, the International held
undisputed sway over the foreign labour movement during these
years. The crisis of 1873 brought a radical change in the situ-
ation. The rapid disintegration of the trade union movement
tended to throw discredit upon the possibilities of trade union-
ism in general and correspondingly brought into the foreground
the idea of political action. The beginning of Lassallean influ-
ence, therefore, dates from the year 1873. The organisations
which were more or less tinged with Lassallean ideas were the
Labor Party of Illinois in the West and the Social Democratic
Party of North America in the East.
The socialist movement in Chicago after the Civil War was
second in importance only to that of New York. During the
fifties, Joseph Weydemeyer had formed there a small Marxian
group, which was represented at a congress of German radicals
in 1863. But the subsequent arrivals from Germany turned the
movement into the Lassallean channel. At the convention of
the National Labor Union in Baltimore in 1866, a delegate of
a German workingmen's union in Chicago, Schlager,^"^ spoke in
favour of political action in the Lassallean sense. Neverthe-
less, the same organisation joined the International in 1870,
as did another similar organisation in Chicago in the same year.
The movement of the unemployed during the winter of 1873,
and the slight consideration received at the hands of the city
56 New York Sozial-Demokrat, Apr. 29, 1876,
5T Doc. Hist., IX, 128.
228 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
govermnent, strengthened the feeling in favour of political
action, and led to the formation of the Labor party of Illinois
in January, 1874. In the following month, the party began
to publish a weekly paper called V^rhote,^^ under the editorship
of a Lassallean, Karl Klinge. The platform of the party ^'^
contained, among the typical labour demands such as child
labour and prison labour laws, a demand for the state owner-
ship of the means of transportation, the abolition of monopolies
and, most important of all, the purely Lassallean demand for
state aid to co-operative societies.
In form of organisation, the Labor party resembled the
International. The smallest unit was a section of at least twen-
ty-five persons speaking the same language, of whom two-thirds
must be workingmen. The sections were grouped in divisions
by locality or language, a local committee heading the organisa-
tion where there was more than one division in the city. Prac-
tically the total membership lived in Chicago, composing twen-
ty-two sections, fifteen German, three Polish, three Bohemian,
and one American at the time of the first convention in March,
1874. The executive committee was likewise composed, with
only one exception, of persons of foreign birth.
The attitude toward trade unionism bore the stamp of ex-
treme Lassalleanism. The Vt^hote declared in the first issue
that " in Chicago, organisation into societies similar to gilds is
entirely abandoned, for it is generally conceded that it never
led to any lasting betterment for the workingmen in the several
trades. It is now therefore being attempted to work through
socialist labour clubs." Also overtures were made to the farm-
ers as possible political allies.®^
The General Council of the International, in the report to
the second national convention in Philadelphia, wrote as fol-
lows regarding the Chicago situation : " The movement in
Chicago is hardly flowing in our channel, since the demands
58 The paper still exists in Chicago as in the issue for May 16 following, it said:
the weekly edition of the Ohicagoer Ar- " Let all narrow minded people . . .
beiter-Zeitung. decry the alliance of the direct slaves of
69 Chicago Torbote, Feb. 14, 1874. capital [the wage-earners] with its indi-
60 In the first issue, Feb. 14, 1874, the rect ones [the farmers] as a small master
Chicago Torbote said: "The German la- compact; our movement will continue to
hour movement in the cities sympathises grow in spite of the protests of these ex-
with the farmers' unions and will aid to ceedingly orthodox people."
enact into law their just demands." And
SOCIALISM 229
which it puts forth bear only a slight proletarian character, and
the local paper promises a policy of either passing the trade
union movement by in complete silence, or even attacking it." ®^
Evidently, the few International sections in Chicago which still
retained their allegiance to the International also became im-
bued with the Lassallean faith. In reply to a protest made by
Section 3, Chicago, against the charge of having forsaken the
workingmen's movement, the General Council pointed out in a
letter dated June 3, 1874, that the demand for anti-monopoly
legislation did not suflSciently differentiate a labour party from
other master workman parties, and added the following charac-
teristic passage :
" It appears strange that we should have to point out to a section
of the International the usefulness and extraordinary importance of
the trade union movement. Nevertheless, we shall remind Section
3 that each of the congresses of the I. W. A., from the first to the
last, diligently occupied itself with the trade union movement and
sought to devise means of furthering it. The trade union is the
cradle of the labour movement, for working people naturally turn
first to that which affects their daily life, and they consequently com-
bine first with their fellows by trade. It therefore becomes the duty
of the members of the International not merely to assist the existing
trade uuions and, before all, to lead them to the right path, i.e., to
internationalize them, but also to establish new ones wherever pos-
sible. The economic conditions are driving the trade union with
irresistible force from the economic to the political struggle, against
the propertied classes, — a truth which is known to aU those who
observe the labour movement with open eyes.'' ®*
The points in controversy between the Internationalists and
Lassalleans in America hardly require a better illustration.
The Labor party of Illinois entered upon its political career
in the municipal election in Chicago in the spring of 1874.
Candidates were nominated only for the north side, in order to
concentrate the forces on a small area. But the success was
only moderate. The ticket did not poll more than a thousand
votes. However, the Vorhote claimed that this was largely in
consequence of fraudulent practices by the old parties. Two
months later, in June, the Labor party sent, upon invitation,
three delegates to a farmers' convention at Springfield with In-
61 New York Arbeiter-Zeitung, May 9, 1874.
62 Sorge's corregpondence, 177.
230 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
structions to effect a working agreement with the farmers' or-
ganisations.^^ The convention, however, proved a disappoint-
ment It was dominated by professional politicians and
greenbackers who opposed an agreement with the Labor
party.^^
At the congressional election in the autumn the Labor party
nominated a full ticket, and again the official returns gave it
only 785 votes instead of the 2,500 it claimed to have cast.
Despair began to take possession of the most active. The mem-
bership began to fall off and eight sections dissolved during the
next four months. The Vorhote still continued to agitate for
co-operative societies with state credit, but the prevailing dis-
appointment with politics soon brought on a reaction from Las-
salleanism to the principles of the International. In April,
1874, the Lassallean editor of the Vorbote, Karl Klinge, was
retired and Conrad Conzett,^^ a member of the International,
was elected in his place. With the advent of Conzett, the paper
substituted the advocacy of trade unionism for Lassalleanism,
with the outcome that its circulation immediately began to go
up. In June a joint committee was elected by the Labor party
on the one hand and by the two surviving sections of the Inter-
national on the other, to draw up conditions of fusion. It
drew up a platform wholly in the spirit of the International,
which was ratified by the Labor party, notwithstanding the
opposition of the Lassalleans. The participation in the elec-
tions of the past was declared to have been a mistake in tactics,
and political action was deferred to such a time as the party
should be sufficiently strong to make a respectable showing.^^
Accordingly, the united party took no part in the fall election
of 1875.
The experiment with Lassalleanism in the East, the Social
Democratic party of North America, founded in May, 1874,
bore a less pronounced Lasallean character than the Labor
party of Illinois. As was seen, it grew out of a combination of
a few sections which formed the opposition at the second na-
tional convention of the International and several Lassallean
groups, including the newly established Labor party of Newark,
63 Chicago Vorbote, June 6, 1874. 6B Conzett was a printer by trade and
64 Ibid., June 20 and July 18, 1874. migrated to the United States in 1859.
66 Chicago Vorbote, June 5, 1875.
SOCIALISM 231
ISTew Jersey. The party held its first convention in New York
•in the beginning of July following, at which the Lassallean
philosophy predominated. Not only was it fully agreed that
the workingmen must centre their efforts upon political action,
but the platform included a plank demanding the " abolition
of all monopolies in transportation, commerce, industry, mining
and agriculture, and their operation by democratically consti-
tuted co-operative associations with the aid of the credit and
supervision of the state." *^^ Two men, who later achieved the
greatest prominence in the trade union movement, were chosen
national officers of the party : Adolph Strasser, cigar maker, was
made national secretary, and P. J. McGuire, carpenter,^ ^ mem-
ber of the executive board. <
Strasser's defection to the Social Democratic party might be
interpreted as a repudiation of the principles of the Interna-
tional. In reality, however, he never had forsaken the trade
union tenets of the International, but doubtless was driven into
the arms of the Lassalleans by many considerations, some of
them of a positive, others of a negative character. His practi-
cal mind certainly could not help tracing the incessant internal
strife within the International to its true source, namely, its
nearly complete isolation from American life. He must have
felt that, above all, the movement needed to be Americanised:
first, in order that it might be restored to a normal life and,
second, and by far the more important consideration, that it
might be made attractive to the American wage-earners. His
allies, the Lassalleans, starting out from their philosophy of
political action, were just as keenly alive, if for a different rea-
son, to the necessity for nationalising the movement. Conse-
quently, they were in perfect agreement as far as first steps were
concerned. Furthermore, since Strasser was firmly convinced
that the need for trade unions was inevitably dictated by the
exigencies of American working-class life, it is not at all un-
67 New York Sozial-Demokrat, Nov. 28, prenticed to a wood-joiner and in 1872,
1874. joined the union of his trade. Here the
68 Ibid., Dec. 12, 1874. able young Irishman fell under the intel-
Peter J. McGuire was born in New lectual influence of the German-speaking
York City in 1852, of Irish parents. He socialists and started on his remarkable
received an education above an average career as one of the small circle of leaders
workingman's, having studied nights in to whom the American Federation of La-
the Cooper Institute and also in an eve- bor owes its life and success. He died in
ning high school. In 1867 he became ap- 1914.
232 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
likely that he felt certain of his ability to convert the Lassalleans
to trade unionism by compromising with them on the question
of political action.
P. J. McGuire was but a young man of twenty-two, when
he joined the Lassalleans, and was only learning his first lessons
about the labour movement. The fact that at this time he be-
came afiiliated with a political party which held a negative atti-
tude towards trade unionism does not particularly call for a
reconciliation with his later purely trade union career.
Soon, however, the party's attitude on the crucial questions
of trade unionism and politics began to give trouble. Dr. G. C.
Stiebeling was the spokesman for the Internationals. He stated
his point of view in the Sozial-Demohrat, the ofiicial party organ,
appearing in New York, as follows : ^' We possess here com-
plete freedom of speech, press and meeting; consequently, we
may carry on our agitation untrammelled. Let us Germans set
the good example. Let us organise a political party and try, in
accordance with our means, to draw our English-speaking breth-
ren with us.'' So far all agreed, but there was no such general
agreement upon what he further proceeded to say : " At pres-
ent we have an official organ and an executive committee, which
is elected by the membership of the Social Democratic party.
If, however, this will have to be changed when the trade unions
will become more numerous and better organised, then the move-
ment will be absolutely directed from the Central Committee
of the Amalgamated Trade Unions." ®*
The executive board was pro-trade union, although the con-
vention had passed the question by in complete silence. Oc-
tober 27, 1874, it passed a resolution asking the trade unions for
their close co-operation with the party. ''^ On the other hand,
the editor of the paper, Gustav Lyser, was a dogmatic Lassal-
lean and hostile to trade unions. Lyser's position became un-
tenable from the standpoint of the party when it at last suc-
ceeded in establishing friendly relations with the National Fur-
niture Workers' Union,'' ^ and he was in consequence removed
by the executive board in March, 1875. The paper changed
under the new management from hostility toward trade unions
89 Ibid., Jan. 8, 1875. came the official organ of the union after
70 Ibid., Dec. 12, 1874. the discontinuation of the New York
Ti Th« New York SozialDemoTerat b«- Arbeittr-Zeitung in January, 1875.
SOCIALISM 233
to friendliness, but the essentially Lassallean overtures for the
political support of the small property owners continued as
before.
The next convention met in July, 1875. Delegates came
from Xew York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Newark, Williams-
burg, Cleveland, Detroit, and Evansville. The convention
adopted a positive trade union policy in the following words:
" The convention declares that under the present conditions the
organisation of working people into trade unions is indis-
pensable, and that each party member is obliged to become a
member of the union of his trade or to aid in establishing a
trade union, if none exists." ^^ Furthermore, the convention
expelled Lyser from the party in punishment for his attack on
trade unionism in the Milwaukee 8ozialist, of which he had in
the meantime become editor. The convention also decided to
found an English paper as soon as possible and to choose a
Marxian, Dr. Otto Walster, of Dresden, as permanent editor of
the Sozial-DemolcratJ^
Thus, by the middle of 1875, the secessionist movement, both
in Chicago and the East, had travelled a considerable distance
back to the original ideas of the International. The time was
ripening for a reunion of the factions of the socialist movement.
Attempts at unification began during 1875. In Chicago, this
was practically accomplished between the sections of the Inter-
national and the Labor party of Illinois as early as the middle
of 1875, and the union committee of that city tried repeatedly
to crown its work by bringing about union on a national scale.
In New York, general conferences were held between the Inter-
national, the United Workers, and the Social-Democratic party.
The International and its English-speaking branch, the
United Workers, desired to maintain an international form of
organisation while the Social-Democratic party contended that
no advantage was to be derived from international affiliations.'^*
Again this difference was caused by a more fundamental differ-
ence of opinion on the question of labour tactics. The Inter-
national, primarily bent on building up strong trade unions,
wished to establish an organisation that would do for them pre-
72 New York Sozial-Demokrat, July 25, 73 Ibid.
1875. 74 Chicago Yorbote, Dec. 25, 1875.
234 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
cisely what the old International had done for the trade unions
in England; that is, protect them from the international com-
petition of cheaper labour. On the other hand, the majority
among the Social Democrats for the present continued to think
in terms of the Lassallean philosophy on the question of labour
politics and aimed at immediate political action. Consequently,
they found that a strictly national form of organisation would
better suit their purpose. No agreement could be reached, and
the fusion of the organisation would probably have been post-
poned, had it not been for the approaching national labour
convention in Pittsburgh. The good prospect of a socialist vic-
tory at that convention impelled the contending sides to unite
in order to force an entering wedge for socialism into the Eng-
lish-speaking labour movement. The Sozial-Demokrat ^^ pro-
posed that the united socialists should offer for acceptance by the
congress a strictly Lassallean platform, but, at a joint con-
ference which was held in Pittsburgh several days before the
opening of the convention, a programme of action as advocated
by the International gained the upper hand.
75 Feb. 20, 1876.
CHAPTER III
ATTEMPTED UNION — THE PITTSBURGH
CONVENTION OF 1876
The preliminary convention at Tyrone, Pennsylvania, and the two reports
on a platform, 235. Discontinuity of the Pittsburgh convention from all
preceding labour conventions, 236. The socialist draft of a platform,
237. The Greenback draft by the committee on resolutions, 237. Victory
of the greenbackers and the withdrawal of the socialists,. 238. Other
planks in the platform, 238. Negative attitude towards politics, 238.
Recommendation to organise secretly, 239. Failure to establish a perma-
nent national federation of all labour organisations, 239.
The national convention met at Tyrone/ Pennsylvania, on
December 28, 1875, as specified in the call issued by the Junior
Sons of '76. It was well attended, 132 delegates being pres-
ent.^ The spokesman of the socialists was P. J. McGuire, of
Connecticut, while George Blair, of ISTew York, appeared for the
Knights of Labor. But apparently nearly all the delegates
came from Pennsylvania and all of the elected officers, notably
the chairman, John M. Davis, a Knight of Labor, and editor of
the National Labor Tribune, were from that State. This prob-
ably explains why it was that the committee on amalgamation
recommended the calling of a second convention to be held in
Pittsburgh, April 17, 1876, to which " all organisations having
for their object the elevation of labor " should be invited. To
this all consented, but it was nevertheless decided to adopt a
platform. The committee on platform presented two reports.
The text of the minority report did not appear in the proceed-
ings, but, as it was written by McGuire, it can safely be pre-
sumed that it was imbued with the socialist spirit. The ma-
jority report was drafted in the phraseology of the platform of
the Junior Sons, yet it differed materially from the latter. The
financial plank was comprehensive; it included the scheme of
1 Official Proceedings are given in the 2 They claimed in a resolution to rep-
Pittsburgh National Labor Tribune, Jan. resent 120.000 organised workingmen,
8, 1876. -which doubtless was a gross exaggeration.
235
236 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
interconvertible bonds and paper money, advocated the restora-
tion of the depressed industries through the immediate repeal
of the resumption act, demanded the repeal of the legislation
creating the national banking system and the redemption of all
national bank currency in legal tender greenbacks. Other con-
spicuous demands were for civil damages as the only punish-
ment for persons indictable under the law of conspiracy,^ the
extension of debtor's exemption to $1,000, and the enactment of
a law that would prevent employers from excluding unionists,
known as an anti-ironclad law. After electing two Knights of
Labor, John M. Davis and George Blair, president and secre-
tary, respectively, of the temporary national executive commit-
tee, the convention adjourned.
The Pittsburgh convention * apparently failed to attract other
labour organisations than those which had been represented at
Tyrone. The trade unions were not represented,^ except for
the indirect representation by the socialists who were also largely
trade unionists. To them, however, the interest of socialism
was paramount. The discontinuity of this convention from
all previous national attempts is further illustrated by the fact
that only four of the delegates had been present at any one of
the previous national conventions. 'None of the old leaders
was present. The delegates numbered 136 and came from 20
States, Pennsylvania having a majority. The Order of the
Knights of Labor, through John M. Davis, James L. Wright,
George Blair, and others, apparently dominated the conven-
tion. James L. Wright, one of the founders of the Knights,
was elected temporary chairman and John M. Davis, the leader
of the Knights in the West, permanent chairman. But the
socialists were also a force to be reckoned with. They and
their sympathisers numbered about thirty.
The object of the convention, as the leaders saw it, was to
formulate a set of legislative demands, to decide upon a politi-
cal policy and to recommend to the workingmen a form of in-
3 This demand was evidently inspired any trade demarcation was a special con-
by the recent Siney and Parks conspiracy ference held by the coal miner delegates
case. See above, II, 180, note. from Pennsylvania, which declared war on
4 Official Proceedings in the Pittsburgh any state senators who should vote for
National Labor Tribune, Apr. 22, 1876. striking out the penal clause in a venti-
8 The list of delegates is given in the lation bill which was at this time before
Proceedings by States without mentioning the upper house of the Pennsylvania legis-
the organisations. The only instance of lature.
GEEENBACKISM VERSUS SOCIALISM 23Y
dustrial organisation. The controversy chiefly centred around
the platform, and the contestants were the socialists on the one
side and the greenbackers on the other. The socialists had
firmly decided to capture the convention for their policy.
On the first day^ Otto Weydemeyer read, on behalf of the
twenty-one socialist delegates, an address which was drawn up
in the spirit of the International.^ It declared that the aboli-
tion of wage slavery ought to be the goal of the labour move-
ment; it pointed out the need for international trade unions to
guard against the importation of European strike-breakers; it
advocated the establishment of a political party by the trade
unions, but emphatically declared that no part in elections
should be taken until the party was sufficiently strong to make
its influence felt;'^ and it concluded by emphasising the fact
that economic organisation must precede and form the basis
of political organisation.
For a while victory smiled upon the socialists, for the con-
vention adopted, by a vote of 67 to 27, a resolution introduced
by P. J. McGuire, favouring state aid to co-operative societies.
But the greenbackers then realised that under the circum-
stances ^ the resolution meant an indorsement of socialism, and,
upon a motion to reconsider, the resolution was recommitted,
never to return.
The open breach came when the committee on resolutions
presented its first report. The committee, which was com-
posed of 15 greenbackers and 6 socialists, reported in favour of
the repeal of the resumption act, advanced the scheme of inter-
convertible bonds and paper money, and, the majority being
from Pennsylvania, demanded of Congress " a strong protective
tariff " and " that all tariff duties be so regulated as to protect
home labor and home industries and the products thereof from
foreign competition.'' ^ They also condemned " the tinker-
ing of the gentlemen now staying in Washington at the govern-
ment's (the people's) expense." The report was adopted by a
6 Chicago Torhote, Apr. 29, 1876. as constituting a part of the greenback
7 At this point the address reiterated scheme, but when it was proposed bj' a
the resolution on political action adopted socialist, it assumed a new aspect.
by the second national convention of the 9 Especial attention was called to the
International. " printed matter clause " which the report
8 Governmpnt credit to co-operative so- asserted did not offer " sufficient protec-
cieties was advocated by William H. Sylvis tion to printers and bookbinders."
238 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
vote of 59 to 46. The socialists offered an angry protest and
withdrew as a body from the convention.
Having decided in favour of greenbackism, the convention
then proceeded to run the full gamut of labour and anti-
monopoly resolutions which were the order of the day at every
labour convention. " Co-operation for trading and manu-
facturing" was held to be the means by which the working
classes " will eventually emancipate themselves from the wage
system,'^ and Congress was requested to grant a loan on easy
terms for a co-operative mine. They further demanded the
abrogation of the Burlingame Treaty with China, the enforce-
ment of the eight-hour law and its passage by the various state
legislatures, a liberal homestead policy to enable wage-earners
to settle upon public land, a liberal policy of internal improve-
ment, stringent usury laws, the prohibition of the '^ truck "
system and of the contract convict system, the prohibition of
discrimination by common carriers, a change in the postal laws,
making it obligatory upon the manufacturer to publish the
cost of manufacturing patented machines, mechanics' lien, the
attachment of penalty clauses to labour protective laws, and,
finally, " suitable apprentice laws that will insure competent
workmen in various industries, by serving a regular apprentice-
ship of at least three years.''
On the question of political action, both socialists and green-
backers on the committee of resolutions were in favour of an
independent workingmen's party, but the convention dealt with
this matter very cautiously. The discussion was postponed
until the last day, for fear the heated discussion which it would
arouse might render futile all efforts at consolidation. Finally,
the conservative element carried the day and forced through a
substitute, which declared that " independent political action
is extremely hazardous and detrimental to the labor interests " ;
that it ought to be preceded by " education and discipline "
through organisation, and that " the existing political parties
can be made the vehicle for the attainment of their [the work-
ingmen's] ends by personal and organised efforts at primary
elections of both parties and through the primaries in the nomi-
nating convention."
The convention recommended a plan of labour organisation
GEEENBACKISM VERSUS SOCIALISM 239
which showed distinctly that it was under the strong influence
of the Knights of Labor. It called attention to the prevailing
system of blacklisting ^^ all earnest workers in the cause of
labour and unionism," and, therefore, urged " upon the work-
ingmen and working women of the country to organise under
one head, each for all and all for one, upon a secret basis, not
antagonistic with the duty they owe to their families, their
country and their God."
The leaders of the convention seriously desired to establish
a permanent national federation. Accordingly, it was de-
cided to create a permanent committee of fifteen to enforce the
recommendations of the convention, and to " call from time
to time annual conventions from bona fide labor organisations
and prepare a basis of representation and tax, the same to be
forwarded to all Trades Unions throughout the United States,
and to place themselves in communication with the Trades
Unions of the world."
It is not surprising, however, that no consolidation of the
labour forces was achieved. The convention gave full satis-
faction to practically no one. The socialists were driven out
by the adoption of the greenback platform, the trade unions
could but feel estranged by the advice to workingmen, ''to
organise under one head upon a secret basis," and the believers
in political action were repulsed when independent political
action was rejected in favour of a policy of pressure upon the
old parties. Thus was brought to a close the era of the general
labour congresses. Henceforth for many years the labour
movement continued to be divided. The Knights of Labor
established their national organisation in 1878, the trade unions
in 1881, and the socialists did the same in 1876, practically
during the Pittsburgh convention just described.
CHAPTER IV
THE GREENBACK LABOR AGITATION, 1876-1880 ^
The change in labour's attitude towards politics produced by the great
strikes of 1877, 240. Organisation of the National party, 241. Fusion
with the greenbackers, 241. State labour ticket in New York, 242. The
" Greenback and Labor " combination in Pennsylvania, 242. Success of the
Greenback party in the West, 244. National convention of labour and
currency reformers and the formation of the National party, 244. Pre-
dominance of the farmers, business men, and lawyers, 244. Platform, 245.
Further Greenback successes, 245. T. V. Powderly, 245. Congressional
election of 1878, 245. Obstacles to a unified movement in New York
City, 246. " Pomeroy Clubs," 246. The organisation of the National
Greenback Labor Reform party, 246. State election in Pennsylvania, 247.
Analysis of the vote, 247. State election in Ohio, 248. Successes elsewhere,
248. Effect of the returning industrial prosperity, 248. Effect of the re-
sumption of specie payment, 249. Tendency to fuse with the Democrats,
249. National pre-nomination conference, 249. Denis Kearney and Albert
R. Parsons, 250. The national nominating convention, 250. Labour de-
mands, 250. Failure of the movement, 251.
DuEiNG the campaign of 1876 the greenback movement was
purely a farmers' movement. The workingmen cast hardly
any votes for Peter Cooper.^ The great strikes of July, 1877,
changed the situation completely. Their suppression by Fed-
eral troops and state militia brought labour face to face witK
an openly hostile government. Immediately after the strikes
workingmen's parties began to spring up like mushrooms.
There was probably no important centre between JSTew York
City and San Francisco in which some movement toward a
party was not begun. The movement reached its height in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and I^ew York, where strong state organi-
sations were formed. In every instance where the workingmen
took to political action they established workingmen's parties
independent of the Greenback party.
In Ohio an unpromising greenback state convention met in
1 In the preparation of this chapter the monograph by Louis Mayer, The Oreen-
author drew largely from the unpublished back Labor Movement, 1874-1884.
2 See above, II, 167 et seq.
240
GREENBACK LABOR PARTY 241
June, 1877, and nominated a state ticket. One week after the
July strike, Kobert Schilling published the first copy of the
Labor Advocate in Cleveland and began a vigorous agitation
for a workingmen's party. Since the strike had affected the
entire State, it received wide response. On September 13 a
workingmen's state convention was held at Columbus and or-
ganised a National party upon an almost wholly greenback plat-
form. There were planks demanding an income tax, non-sec-
tarian schools, and the reservation of the public domain for
actual settlers, but the only distinctly^ labour plank was one
demanding legislation against truck stores. The part of the
platform devoted to currency reform is noteworthy in that it
first, among all greenback platforms, failed to incorporate the
interconvertible-bond feature of the greenback scheme. Thus
it distinctly separated itself from the idea of regulating the
rate of interest through control of the currency. It simply
declared that " the legal tender currency is the safest and most
satisfactory paper money attainable," and demanded " that it
be fully restored and made a full legal tender and continued
without contraction of volume." It likewise demanded the
substitution of legal tender notes for all outstanding national
bank notes and the remonetisation of silver.
The National party entered into an agreement with the green-
backers whereby their nominee for governor, Stephen John-
son, a retired lawyer and farmer, was retained on its state
ticket, but the rest of the candidates were replaced by new
men: one machinist and two farmers. Of the 10 candidates
on the county and city tickets at Columbus, 4 were working-
men.
The vote polled by Johnson was about 17,000 — over 5 times
as large as the greenback vote of the preceding year. Over
half the votes came from the counties in which were located the
cities of Toledo, Cleveland, Youngstown, Canton, and Colum-
bus. Another quarter of the vote was concentrated in the rail-
way towns and manufacturing counties of the northeastern part
of the State. In Toledo the municipal ticket and a part of the
county ticket were elected to ofiice by a plurality, as well as
two members of the lower house of the legislature. In the
agricultural counties, the vote was, on the whole, light.
242 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
In New York a similar movement resulted in a state con-
vention held in Troy early in October, 1877, and attended by a
large representation of labouring men.^ The first plank of the
platform adopted declared in favour of '^ a currency of gold,
silver, and United States treasury notes . . . and the retire-
ment of national bank bills/' This mild demand was all that
the platform contained with reference to currency. The re-
mainder was devoted to a miscellaneous assortment of labour
reform planks, the reduction of the hours of labour, the estab-
lishment of bureaus of labour statistics, the abolition of the con-
tract system of prison labour, the provision of factory inspec-
tion, and the prohibition of manufacture in tenement houses.
The candidates nominated for the two highest offices on the
ticket, secretary of state and state controller, were John J.
Junio of Syracuse, a cigar maker, prominent in trade union
circles, and George A. Blair, of New York City, a leader in the
Knights of Labor.
The party polled in the election over 20,000 votes, ten times
as many as the Greenback party in 1876. One assemblyman
was elected for Elmira. The vote was drawn mainly from
the " southern tier " of counties of New York — the region trav-
ersed by the Erie Railroad, which alone of the railroads pass-
ing through New York had been seriously affected by the strike
of July. Elmira, Oswego, and Homellsville, the chief scenes
of the railroad troubles, were the centres of activity. The
leader of the party in this region was the candidate for State
senator, Ralph Beaumont, a shoemaker, who later achieved
prominence as a Knight of Labor. Rochester and Albany
were other important centres. The vote in New York and
Buffalo was small.
In Pennsylvania the ball was set in motion by a working-
men's meeting held in August, 1877, at Pittsburgh, at which
it was resolved " to organise an independent movement to be
called the Greenback Labor party," ^ for the purpose of choos-
ing men for the different offices.
A meeting was held also in Philadelphia, owing to the efforts
of the members of the Typographical Union, and William B.
8 New York Timet, Oct. 10, 1877.
4 This is the first mention of the term " Greenbaclc Labor" that has been found.
GREEl^BACK LABOR PARTY 243
Stechert, for many years president of this union in Phila-
delphia, presided. As a result, no doubt, of these and other
similar meetings, a so-called Union Labor or United Work-
ingmen's convention was held at Harrisburg about a month
later. Nearly all of the 30 or 40 delegates present came from
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh — a few from Scranton, Read-
ing, and Allentown. The platform adopted was prefaced by a
long preamble calling attention to the depressed state of eco-
nomic life of the country and condemning in general terms
the vicious legislation and financial management which had in-
duced the depression. It contained in its first plank a demand
for " the abolition of the national banking system, the uncon-
ditional repeal of the Specie Resumption Act, and the issue of
currency by the government upon the wealth of the whole na-
tion." Following this was a long list of purely labour de-
mands. The highest places on the ticket, namely those of audi-
tor-general and treasurer, were given to two Knights of Labor
leaders, John M. Davis, of Pittsburgh, and James L. Wright,
of Philadelphia.
A week later the Greenback party accepted these nomina-
tions, and thus was formed in Pennsylvania the so-called
" Greenback and Labor " combination. It polled the very
considerable vote of 52,854, amounting to nearly 10 per cent
of the total vote cast. Its stronghold was in the anthracite
region where the towns of Wilkesbarre, Columbus, and Scran-
ton were situated. Alleghany County, with the cities of Alle-
ghany and Pittsburgh, contributed one-seventh of the total
greenback labour vote, nearly a quarter of the total vote cast
in the county. Schuylkill County cast 9,000 votes and Phila-
delphia, 5,000. The eastern manufacturing centres cast a small
vote and the rural sections a negligible one. The regions found
to be the strongholds of the new political movement were the
identical regions in which the strength of the Knights of Labor
was at this time concentrated. There can remain but little
doubt that the Order stood at the helm of this movement.
In Massachusetts no workingmen's party was started, so that
the field belonged undisputed to the Greenback party. The
vote was negligible and came only from the rural sections. In
some of the western agricultural States, however, the Green-
244 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
back party vote was considerable: 15 per cent in Wisconsin; 14
per cent in Iowa ; and 4.75 per cent in Kansas.
The alliance of the workingmen with the greenbackers in
Ohio and Pennsylvania and the growing Workingmen's party
in New York naturally suggested to both greenback and labour
party leaders the desirability of effecting on a national scale a
union of the forces of all parties. Accordingly a call was is-
sued for a " national convention of labour and currency re-
formers " to be held at Toledo in February, 1878. It was
signed by a number of prominent greenbackers, mostly of the
journalist-politician type, and had been prepared by D. B.
Sturgeon, of Toledo, the chairman of the state executive com-
mittee of the National party in Ohio.
Pursuant to this call, there assembled in Toledo some 150
delegates, coming chiefly from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois. In all, delegates from twenty States were pres-
ent, but only one from beyond the Rockies. Richard Trevel-
lick was made temporary chairman. The permanent chairman
chosen was Francis W. Hughes, a lawyer and former judge of
Pennsylvania. Those who took prominent part were E. P.
Allis, of Wisconsin, the head of an extensive steel manufactui^
ing plant in Milwaukee and Greenback candidate for governor
of the State in the preceding year; E. A. Boynton, Massa-
chusetts, a large manufacturer of boots and shoes ; ex-Congress-
man Alexander Campbell, of Illinois, a manufacturer, and in
1863 author of The True Greenback, who had attended several
conventions of the National Labor Union ; General S. F. Cary ;
W. P. Crooning, of New York, secretary of the New York
Board of Trade ; Robert Schilling ; Ralph Beaumont, a Knight
of Labor; Uriah S. Stephens, the founder of the Knights of
Labor; and a score of lawyers. The evidence furnished by
this list points to the conclusion that, however strong the
working-class element in the new party, the actual direction of
its national affairs was in the hands of farmers, radical busi-
ness men, and lawyers.
The convention launched into existence the National party
and adopted a platform containing the typical greenback de-
mands. The preamble states that " throughout our entire
country the value of real estate is depreciated, industry para-
GREENBACK LABOR PARTY 245
lysed, trade depressed, business incomes and wages reduced,
unparalleled distress inflicted upon the poorer and middle ranks
of our people, the land filled with fraud, embezzlement, bank-
ruptcy, crime, suffering, pauperism and starvation," and that
" this state of things has been brought about by legislation in
the interest of and dictated by money lenders, bankers and
bond holders." Following this statement were four labour de-
mands. They called for legislation reducing the hours of
labour, for both national and state bureaus of labour and in-
dustrial statistics, the prohibition of the contract system of
prison labour, and the suppression of the importation of servile
labour into the United States.
Although the winter of 1877-1878 marked perhaps the point
of its greatest intensity, and the summer of 1878 saw the be-
ginning of its end already in sight, the depression continued
with marked severity throughout that year, l^aturally, there-
fore, the greenback movement was growing apace. One of the
notable successes in the spring of 1878 was the election of
Terence V. Powderly,'' later grand master workman of the
Knights of Labor, as mayor of Scranton.
The congressional election in the autumn of 1878 marked the
zenith of the movement. The aggregate greenback vote cast
in the election exceeded a million, and fourteen representa-
tives were sent to Congress. In ITew England the movement
was strong enough to poll almost a third of the total vote in
Maine, over 8 per cent of the total vote in both Connecticut and
E'ew Hampshire, and from 4 to 6 per cent in the other States.
In Maine, the greenbackers elected 32 members of the upper
house and 151 members of the lower house, and one congress-
man, Thompson Mu'rch, of Eochland, who was secretary of the
5 Terence Vincent Powderly was born workman of this district assembly. In
at Carbondale, Penn., in 1849, of Irish 1878 he was chosen mayor of Scranton
parents. At the age of thirteen he became and was again elected in 1882 and 1884.
a railway switch tender and four years Powderly was grand master workman of
later entered a railway machine shop. the Knights of Labor from 1879 to 1893.
In 1870 he joined the Scranton local or- In 1894 he was admitted to the bar, iden-
ganisation of the Machinists' and Black- tified himself with the Republican party,
smiths' National Union. In November, and stumped for McKinley in 1896. In
1874, he joined the Knights of Labor and 1897 he was appointed commissioner gen-
soon brought his union into the Order. eral of immigration by President McKin-
In 1877 Powderly became secretary of ley, serving until 1902. Since 1907 h«
the newly organised District Assembly 5 has been Chief of the Division of Infor-
(District Assembly 16 since 1878) of mation in the Bureau of Immigration and
Scranton. In 1879 he became master Naturalization at Washington.
246 HISTOBY OF LABOUB IN THE UNITED STATES
National Granite Cutters' Union. However, the bulk of the
vote in that State was obviously agricultural. In Massa-
chusetts, the situation was dominated by Benjamin F. Butler,
lifelong Republican politician who had succeeded in getting the
Democratic nomination for governor and was endorsed by the
Greenback convention. He received a large vote but was de-
feated for office.
In New York where, during the preceding year, the move-
ment had been divided between the Greenback party and the
Labor Reform party, a convention was called to meet at
i Auburn in July, 1878, to effect a fusion and to bring the move-
ment in line with the National party formed at Toledo. In
New York City there were three groups struggling for control :
the Pomeroy group, the National group, and the Junio-Blair
group. Mark M. Pomeroy was an ambitious, radical editor of
a weekly paper, Pomeroy's Democrat, which he had been pub-
lishing in New York since 1869, but he had moved to Chicago
shortly before the campaign of 1876. He succeeded in organis-
ing throughout the country a large number of Pomeroy Clubs
with the prime object, apparently, of furthering the circulation
of the paper as well as his own fortunes. The national group
was the direct successor of the Greenback party of 1876, and,
after the Toledo convention, declared itself a branch of the Na-
tional party. The Junio-Blair group represented the Labor
Reform party.
Outside New York City there existed no obstacle to fusion.
At the state convention all three New York City delegations
were rejected, and their exclusion was looked upon as a triumph
of the labour reform element. Similarly, the case of the con-
testing delegations from Albany was decided in favour of that
element. Thereafter it allowed the greenbackers to run the con-
vention. The platform was thoroughly greenback and con-
tained fewer labour demands than that of the Labor Reform
party of the preceding year. The name adopted for the new
party was the National Greenback Labor party, and adhesion
to the National party formed at Toledo was declared. The
nominees were Gideon J. Tucker, a well-known lawyer, for
judge of the Court of Appeals, and candidates in 30 of the 33
congressional districts, 3 of the nominations, however, being
aREENBACK LABOR PARTY 24Y
in fusion with the Democrats. The vote for Tucker was over
75,000, about 9 per cent of the total vote of the State. If,
however, only the State outside of I^ew York and Brooklyn be
considered, it was slightly less than 12 per cent of the total.
The vote was localised in the counties contiguous to Pennsyl-
vania. ISTo definite conclusion can be reached with regard to
distribution between city and country. On the contrary, the
conclusion seems to be warranted that the distribution was
regional rather than occupational, that in the region in which
the vote was heavy it was contributed to about equally by
farmers and workingmen, and that in the region where it was
light, the lack of support was common to both agricultural and
industrial areas.
In Pennsylvania, an alliance between the Workingmen's
party and the greenbackers had already been completed in 1877.
In 1878 the two movements were entirely fused. At the
state convention, the workingmen favoured the nomination for
governor of Thomas Armstrong, then editor of the Pittsburgh
National Labor Tribune, but the greenbackers succeeded in
nominating Samuel Mason, a lawyer. James L. Wright re-
ceived the nomination for secretary of internal affairs, and
Uriah S. Stephens was nominated for Congress in the Fifth
Congressional District, a part of Philadelphia. The vote for
Mason for governor reached almost 82,000, being nearly 12 per
cent of the total vote cast. Still larger, however, was the con-
gressional vote, which reached almost 100,000, or over 14 per
cent of the total. The movement was relatively weak in Phila-
delphia, the vote in each of the 3 congressional districts where
nominations were held being only 7 per cent of the total. The
general conclusion to be reached with regard to the distribution
of the vote over the State is that the strength of the Greenback
Labor party was chiefly located in the anthracite coal mining
region and to a less extent in the coal mining and manufactur-
ing region of the West. The economically diversified northern
belt was a secondary region of strength, while the overwhelm-
ingly agricultural sections were about uniformly weak in green-
back labour support, a weakness which (as in ^ew York) was
also evident in the largest industrial centre of the State —
Philadelphia,
248 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
In Ohio, conditions during the year 1878 did not undergo
material change. The alliance of the Greenback and Labor
Keform parties continued. Andrew Roy, prominent in the
coal miners' organisation and more recently a state inspector
of mines, was the nominee for secretary of State — the highest
office to be filled at the election. The vote for the State was
38,332, and for the city of Cleveland over 5,500.
In spite of the considerable increase over the vote for 1877
in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, the strongest greenback
States remained, as in that year, the agricultural States of the
Middle West and the Southwest. The vote in Illinois was 15
per cent of the total, in Texas almost a quarter, in Iowa it was
22 per cent, in Kansas over 19 per cent. In Wisconsin, candi-
dates for Congress were nominated in only 4 districts, and in
Milwaukee County the vote was only 7 per cent of the total.
In Missouri the movement over the State as a whole was very-
strong, the vote in St. Louis reaching 17 per cent of the total,
but in Kansas City less than 8 per cent. In Colorado the
movement was not strong, polling 8 per cent of the total. In
California no election was held.
Having reached its highest point in 1878, the greenback
movement began rapidly to disintegrate in the next year. The
month after the election of 1878 witnessed the disappearance
of one of the chief demands of the party, the repeal of the re-
sumption act. January 1, 1879, was the date fixed by the act
for resumption, and on December 17, 1878, the premium on
gold disappeared. From that day on, the resumption policy
became a dead issue.
Still more significant for the future of the party, however,
was the renewal of industrial activity which set in with the
new year. Even before the election it had become apparent
that an industrial revival was at hand, and by the middle of
1879 it was in full swing. Another factor of great importance
was the large increase in the volume of the currency. In 1881
the currency, which had averaged about $725,000,000 for the
years 1876-1878, reached over $1,114,000,000.^ Under
these conditions, all that remained available to the platform
e Hardy, " Quantity of Money and Prices," in Journal of Political Economy,
1894-1895, III, 156.
GEEENBACK LABOR PARTY 249
makers and propagandists of the party was their opposition to
the monopolistic national banks with their control over cur-
rency, and to the refunding of the bonded debt.
The disappearance of the financial issue snapped the threads
which had heretofore held together the farmer and the wage-
worker. So long as depression continued, the issue was finan-
cial and the two had a common enemy — the banker. The
financial issue once settled, or at least suspended, the object of
the attack by labour became the employer, and that of the at-
tack by the farmer, the railway corporation and the warehouse
man. Prosperity had mitigated the grievances of both classes,
but while the farmer still had a great deal to expect from poli-
tics in the form of state regulation of railway rates, the wage-
earners' struggle now became entirely economic and not politi-
cal.
Another weakening influence was the tendency towards
fusion with the Democrats. The splendid showing made by
the Greenback Labor party in the elections of 1878 filled the
leaders with hope, while at the same time it inspired many of
the old party leaders, particularly Democratic leaders, with
fear. The natural result was for both classes of leaders to look
to fusion — the former to secure personal advantage and pre-
ferment, the latter to save their organisation. The only States
in which fusion was actually accomplished in 1879 were Michi-
gan and Massachusetts, but in every State in which a state elec-
tion was held, fusion had its advocates and the controversy over
the question, of necessity, greatly weakened the party.
A few weeks after the election of 1879, the chairman of the
national committee, F. P. Dewees, a Washington lawyer, and
T. P. Murch, the chairman of the congressional committee,
issued a call for a conference to be held at Washington on
January 8, 1880, for the purpose of arranging for a national
nominating convention later in the year. The call was ad-
dressed not only to the regular greenback organisation but to
the national committee of the Pomeroy faction, which had
seceded in 1878, and to representatives of labour organisations.
Denis Kearney, the leader of the Workingmen^s party of Cali-
fornia, issued a similar call about the same time,''^ but an un-
T See below, II, 263.
250 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
derstanding was reached whereby he agreed to attend the con-
ference called by the greenbackers.
The conference was also attended by Albert R. Parsons,®
representing the Chicago Eight-Hour League, and by Charles
Litchman, of the Knights of Labor. It drew up tio plat-
form, but merely appointed a committee to issue a call for a
national convention to which any delegates coming from or-
ganisations in sympathy with the Greenback Labor party
might be admitted.
The call, which professed to have been issued on behalf of
the " representatives of the Grangers and Farmers' open clubs,
labour organisations, the Workingmen's Party of California,
clubs and other organisations of the National and Greenback
Labor parties, and Union Greenback-Labor party [Pome-
roy's party], united with the committees of the National party
and the congressional committee of the Greenback Labor
party.''
Besides delegates from greenback organisations and Kearney,
there were also in attendance at the convention, delegates from
the Workingmen's party of Kansas and the Chicago Working-
men's Union and forty-four socialists. The platform adopted
demanded the abolition of the note-issue power of the national
banks, the substitution of greenbacks for the outstanding na-
tional bank-notes, and the payment of outstanding bonds there-
with. Granger sentiment was appealed to by planks demand-
ing congressional regulation of interstate transportation and
the reservation of the public domain to actual settlers. A bid
for the labour vote was made by including the principal labour
demands, such as the enforcement of the national eight-hour
law by stringent factory inspection, the regulation of prison
8 Albert R. Parsons, the only American United States in 1876 and became a mem-
among the Chicago anarchists, condemned ber of the Knights of Labor in the same
to death in 1887, was born in 1850 in year. He ran repeatedly for office on the
Montgomery, Ala., of parents with a pre- socialist ticket between 1877 and 1879.
revolutionary ancestry. He was succes- In 1879 he was secretary of the Chicago
sively a printer. Confederate soldier and Eight-Hour .League, which invited Ira
Federal office-holder under Grant. His Steward to speak under its auspices in
attention was first drawn to the labour the fall of that year. At the second con-
problem in 1874, when the working vention of the Federation of Organized
people in Chicago united to compel Trades and Labor Unions in 1882, he sent
the " Relief Aid Society " to render in a resolution from this organisation ad-
an account of the several million dol- vocating the eight-hour day upon the
lars collected to relieve the distress oc- grounds of Ira Steward's theory that '* a
casioned by the big fire of 1871. Parsons decrease in hours means an increase in
joined the Workingmen's party of the wages " and ultimately co-operation.
GREENBACK LABOR PARTY 251
labour, the establishment of a bureau of labour, the prohibition
of child labour under fourteen years of age, the payment of
wages in cash, and the immediate abrogation of the Burl-
ingame Treaty with China. However, no special effort was
made to reach the labour vote. Weaver, the nominee for presi-
dent, spent most of his time in the South. The vote in ISTew
York fell to 12,000. In Pennsylvania, although the leaders of
the Knights, such as Powderly and Wright, were present at the
convention of 1880, by far the greater part of the workingmen
in the coal regions of the East and the iron and steel region of
the West, which had polled so heavy a vote for the party in
1878, deserted it in 1880, and the vote fell to 20,000. A care-
ful study of the vote for Weaver in 1880 ^ reveals the fact,
that, with the exception of an industrial section running through
seven counties in central Michigan, the greenback movement
in 1880 presents itself as a distinctly agricultural movement,
drawing the bulk of its strength from the agricultural States
east of the Mississippi, and the remainder from the agri-
cultural areas of the West. With insignificant exceptions,
the desertion of the greenback cause by workingmen seems by
1880 to have been well nigh complete.
9 Libby, " A Study of the Greenback Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters,
Movement, 1876-1884," in Wisconsin Transactiong, 1898-1899, XII, 580-548.
CHAPTER V
THE ANTI-CHINESE AGITATION IN CALIFORNIA
Class struggle versus race struggle, 252. The depression in California,
253. Socialists and the strike movement, 253. The anti-Chinese riot,
253. Denis Kearney, 254. The Workingmen's party of California, 255.
Its platform, 255. The sand-lot meetings, 253. Arrest of Kearney, 256.
Nomination of delegates for the state constitutional convention, 256.
Threats of riots and the " gag law," 257. Kearney's acquittal, 258.
State convention of the Workingmen's party, 258. First successes in
elections, 259. The election to the state constitutional convention, 260.
Alliance of the workingmen with the farmers, 260. The anti-Chinese
clause in the constitution, 260. Adoption of the constitution by the
people, 261. Workingmen's success in the state election, 261. Success in
the San Francisco municipal election, 261. Movement for the enforcement
of the anti-Chinese clause in the state constitution, 262. Success in the
state legislature but failure in the United States Circuit Court, 262.
Second arrest of Kearney, 262. Beginning of the disintegration of the
Workingmen's party, 263. Defeat in elections, 263. Relation to the
national greenback movement, 263. End of the party, 264. Spread of
the anti-Chinese movement among small employers, 264. The question
before Congress, 265. Congressional investigating committee, 265. In-
crease in Chinese immigration during the early eighties, 266. The Repre-
sentative Assembly of Trade and Labor Unions, 266. The white label, 266.
The state labour convention, the League of Deliverance, and the boycott of
Chinese-made goods, 267. Chinese Exclusion Act, 267.
In California/ as in the eastern industrial States, the rail-
way strikes of 1877 precipitated a political labour movement.
California had retained gold as curj^ency throughout the entire
period of paper money, and the labour movement at no time
had accepted the greenback platform. The political issue after
1877 was racial, not financial, and the weapon was not merely
the ballot, but also ^' direct action " — violence. The anti-
Chinese agitation in California, culminating as it did in the
Exclusion Law of 1882, was doubtless the most important single
factor in the history of American labour, for without it the en-
tire country might have been overrun by Mongolian labour, and
1 This chapter is condensed and largely Cross, University of California, on the His-
quoted from the manuscript of Ira B. tory of the Labor Movement in California.
252
GREENBACK PAETY 253
the labour movement might have become a conflict of races
instead of one of classes.
When the news of the strikes and of the labour riots in Pitts-
burgh reached California, the business situation in that State
was at its lowest ebb. Depression had set in there later than
in the other States, so that in the three years, 1873, 18Y4, and
1875, approximately 150,000 immigrants from the East had
entered the State. ^ Consequently, when the crisis came, in
1877, the usual number of unemployed, always to be found in
San Francisco, was augmented many fold. The greatest un-
rest and discontent prevailed among this class. At that time
no city or state central labour body existed. The national
socialist organisation, which then bore the name of Working-
men's party of the United States,^ was the only one in touch
with the national labour movement. Thus it was that a meet-
ing was called under the auspices of the party to agitate the
labour question, and to be held on the vacant lots in front of
the new city hall in San Francisco, known as the " sand-lots,'' *
on the evening of July 23.
On the day of the meeting, rumors were spread that a riot
was being planned, with the object of burning the docks of the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company,^ and of pillaging the Chinese
quarter. ISTevertheless, the police granted a permit to hold the
meeting. At least 8,000 people gathered on the sand-lots in
the evening. The crowd was addressed by several socialists
who spoke on the labour question, but said nothing of the
Chinese. Everything was orderly until an anti-coolie proces-
sion pushed its way into the audience and insisted that the
speakers say something about the Chinese. This was refused
and thereupon the crowd which had gathered on the outskirts
of the meeting attacked a passing Chinaman and started the
cry, " On to Chinatown." This marked the beginning of a
two-day riot during which more than $100,000 worth of prop-
erty belonging to Chinamen and others was destroyed, and four
men were killed. The disturbance was quelled by the united
2 San Francisco Bulletin, Jan. 10, 1876. at any time in getting a crowd of idlers
s See below, II, 269 et seq. to listen to their harangues, or to buy their
4 The sand-lots, for many years, had novelties.
been the gathering place for speakers, 5 The Pacific Mail Steamship Company's
street fakers, phrenologists, tramps, and vessels brought the largest portion of Chi-
others of like stamp who had no trouble nese immigrants to the United States.
264 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
efforts of the police, state militia, and the thousand-strong
" pick-handle brigade." This was an improvised militia under
the command of a citizens' vigilance committee, and owed its
name to the fact that each member was armed with a hickory
pick handle.
Among the members of the pick-handle brigade was an Irish
drayman, Denis Kearney by name. He was bom in the
county of Cork, Ireland, in 1847, and, after sailing the seas
for some years, had come to California in 1868. He had picked
up considerable information from newspapers, public meet-
ings, political clubs, and other sources. He was a regular at-
tendant at the meetings of the Lyceum for Self-Culture. He
was especially temperate in his habits, and, when speaking
at meetings, he took occasion to abuse the members of his
own class for their laziness and shiftlessness. His remarks
were consistently in favour of the employers and the Chi-
nese.
But the July riots changed his attitude. He made applica-
tion for admission to a section of the socialistic Workingmen's
party of the United States, but its leaders, knowing Kearney's
contempt for the working class, rejected the application.®
Kearney then decided that he would organise a party of his
own and forthwith formed the Workingmen's Trade and Labor
Union of San Francisco, with J. G. Day as president, J. J.
Hickey as treasurer, and himself as secretary. He delivered
an address at the first meeting of the new party which the press
characterised as ^^ forcible in language and rather incendiary
in sentiment." In the following election his organisation was
practically unheard of. But becoming more and more violent,
he found himself, within a short time, at the head of a con-
siderable following. On September 23, he held his first meet-
ing upon the sand-lots, which was attended by some YOO people.
As had become his habit, he indulged in frenzied statement and
concluded by declaring that San Francisco would meet the fate
of Moscow unless something were done to alleviate the suffer-
ings of the workers and drive the Chinese from California.
The cry, " the Chinamen must go," now became the rallying
«The story runs thus in the semi-an- the party, National Socialist (Cincinnati),
nual report of the national secretary of Aug. 31, 1878.
THE SAND-LOTS 255
slogan of the agitators and was soon echoed and re-echoed from
one end of the State to the other.
On October 5, the next step was taken when the Working-
men's party of California was organised with Kearney as presi-
dent, Day as vice-president, and H. L. Knight as secretary-
treasurerJ Knight drew up the platform which was in part
as follows:
^^ The object ... is to unite all poor and workingmen and their
friends into one political party, for the purpose of defending them-
selves against the dangerous encroachments of capital. . . .
"We propose to rid the country of cheap Chinese labor as soon
as possible, and by all means in our power, because it tends still more
to degrade labor and aggrandise capital.
" We propose to destroy land monopoly in our State by such laws
as will make it possible.
" We propose to destroy the great money power of the rich by a
system of taxation that will make great wealth impossible in the
future. . . .
" When we have 10,000 members we shall have the sympathy and
support of 20,000 other workingmen.
" The party will then wait upon all who employ Chinese and ask
for their discharge, and it will mark as public enemies those who
refuse to comply with their request.
" This party will exhaust all peaceable means of attaining its
ends, but it will not be denied Justice when it has the power to enforce
it. It will encourage no riot or outrage, but it will not volunteer
to repress, or put down, or arrest, or prosecute the hungry and im-
patient who manifest their hatred of the Chinamen by a crusade
against ' John,' or those who employ him. Let those who raise the
storm by their selfishness, suppress it themselves. If they dare
raise the devil, let them meet him face to face. We will not help
them." «
The party met with great success. The earnestness of the
agitators in addressing two or three meetings every evening
during the week and on Sundays at the sand-lots impressed
people with their sincerity of purpose, and hundreds hastened
to enrol themselves as members. The several socialist sections
likewise were drawn into the agitation and joined the move-
7 Day -was a Canadian carpenter of California in 1852, where he engaged in
Irish extraction. Knight was an Eng- mining for three years and gave some at-
lishman. He came to the United States in tention to law.
1842 and settled in Missouri, where he 8 Cross, History of the Labor Moven\ient
was admitted to the bar. He served in GoXifomia, 157, MSS,.
through the Mexican Ww, coming to
256 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ment. Aspiring politicians also joined. Among tlie latter
was a Dr. C. C. O'Donnell, a well-educated medical specialist of
rather unenviable reputation but nevertheless a speaker of
great force. The party also received steady and sympathetic
publicity through the columns of the San Francisco Chronicle.^
The Sunday meetings upon the sand-lots continued to draw
larger and larger crowds; the party organisation grew rapidly,
and, in proportion, the utterances of the speakers became more
radical and inflammatory. The Southern Pacific Railway
came in for its share of abuse on account of employing Chinese.
Finally, it was suggested that a meeting be held on " Nob Hill,"
the most fashionable district in the city.
After considerable hesitation on the part of the authorities,
Kearney and his companions were arrested for inciting to riot
and lodged in jail. The militia was held in readiness in case
of disturbance. In view of these preparations, the unemployed
quieted down. The arrested leaders were soon released by the
court for lack of sufficient evidence, after they had written a
self-humiliating letter of apology to the mayor. For a time
thereafter the speeches at the sand-lots were remarkably mild
and temperate, considering their character prior to the arrest
of the leaders. On Thanksgiving Day, a procession of workers,
variously estimated as having from 7,000 to 10,000 men in line,
paraded the streets of San Francisco as a protest against the
Chinese and in honour of the liberated sand-lot agitators.
Organisations which took part were the trade unions of the
plasterers, boot and shoemakers, tailors, coopers, printers, car-
penters, pile drivers, the Scandinavian Association, the Aus-
trian Benevolent Society, the Order of the Caucasians, and
twelve ward clubs of the Workingmen's party.
That evening a meeting was held, attended by delegates from
these associations and by delegates from without the city. Its
purpose was to call a state convention at which nominations
should be made for delegates to the constitutional convention
which had been called to meet in 1879. Lack of harmony
characterised the meeting, and the Sacramento delegation with-
drew, claiming that it would not submit to the dictatorial
f> For a number of years intense rivalry took a very antagonistic attitude towards
had existed between the San Francisco the workingmen's agitation, the Chronids
CaU and the Chronicle. When the OaU enlisted in its defence.
ANTI-CHINESE 257
methods of Kearney, Knight, and Wellock.^^ For some time
previous to this, Kearney had controlled the affairs of the or-
ganisation in a high-handed manner. Chairmen were deposed
and meetings were broken up by his boisterous followers at his
mere suggestion. Dissensions now increased and disruption
seemed particularly near when, in addition, charges of cor-
ruption were made against Kearney. But Kearney proved
equal to the situation. Clubs were disbanded at his command
and members were expelled until the movement was once more
under his control. It was at this time that he reverted to the
vituperative and violent language of the time before his arrest,
for his cool and calm discourse could neither gain him new
associates nor retain those already with him.
On January 3, 1878, about 500 unemployed men marched
about the city and finally proceeded to the city hall where,
headed by Kearney, a committee demanded that the mayor
should give them work. Kearney declared that he could not
keep his followers under control any longer unless they were
given *^ work, bread, or a place in the county jail." Reply was
made that the city authorities had no power to provide them
with employment. Kearney became increasingly violent in
his utterances. So incendiary did the agitation become that a
secret committee of safety was formed among the leading citi-
zens of San Francisco. On January 5, the grand jury in-
dicted Kearney, Day, and four others on the charge of riot.
The city was in an uproar and several companies of militia
were kept under arms. The situation had become so critical
that the San Francisco Chronicle reversed its position and came
out strongly against the agitation. The board of supervisors,
upon the recommendation of the mayor, petitioned the legis-
lature to enact certain measures for the protection of the city.
The mayor also issued a proclamation on January 17, de-
claring unlawful all assemblies of an incendiary or riotous na-
ture and ordering the arrest of all persons taking part in them.
Again, as before, seeing the authorities prepared to act, the
agitators quieted down and awaited developments. On Jan-
uary 19 the governor signed a bill which had been rushed
10 Wellock was an English shoemaker California in 1877, and he achieved promi-
and had served in the Crimean War. He nence during the time of Kearney's im-
«ame to the United States in 1878 and to prisonment.
258 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
through the legislature, later known as the " gag law," im-
posing extra heavy penalties for inciting to riot.
On January 21 the first state convention of the Working-
men's party of California met secretly in San Francisco with
Frank Koney as temporary chairman. ^^ The police had orders
to break up the meeting, but, inasmuch as it was quiet and
orderly, it was allowed to proceed. About 140 delegates were
in attendance representing the different clubs of San Fran-
cisco, Oakland, Alameda, Petaluma, San Jose, Vallejo, Brook-
lyn, Mono County, and Siskiyou County. At this time there
were about 25 unions in San Francisco with approxi-
mately 3,500 members, and several of these also sent dele-
gates.
On the first day of the convention, it was announced that
the trial of Kearney and his companions had resulted in an
acquittal for all, and that the workingmen had elected their
candidate for state senator at a special election in Alameda
County. The second day of the convention was given to jolli-
fication. Kearney was made permanent chairman. During
the next two days, a platform and constitution, drafted by
Roney, and a set of resolutions were adopted. The platform
declared that the government of the United States had fallen
into the hands of the capitalists ; that coolie labour was a curse
to the land and should be restricted and abolished forever; that
land should be held only for actual cultivation and settlement ;
and that a system of finance " consistent with the agricultural,
manufacturing and mercantile industries, and requirements of
the country uncontrolled by rings, brokers, and bankers," should
be introduced. Further demands were that eight hours should
be made the legal work day; that the farming-out of convict
labour should be stopped ; that all labour on public works should
be performed by the day and at the current rate of wages ; that
the creation of millionaires and monopolists should be rend-
ered impossible by a proper system of taxation, and that the
11 Roney was born in Belfast, Ireland, he joined the moulders' union and later
in 1841. Although the son of a wealthy became president of the local organisation,
contractor, he early allied himself with He was active in the campaign of the Na-
the Fenian movement. He was arrested, tional Labor Reform party in Nebraska,
and upon promise not to return, he was In 1874, he went to San Francisco and
tent to the United States by the British joined the anti-Ohinese movement at the
government. After removing to Omaha, time of Kearney's first arrest.
ANTI-CHINESE 259
fee system for tlie payment of public officers should be abol-
ished. The agitation had shifted from attacks upon the
Chinese to attacks upon capital and monopoly. The Chinese
had ceased to flock into the country in large numbers owing to
the antagonistic attitude of the Californians. Land and rail-
road monopolies furnished abundant material for new issues.
On February 19 a special election was held in Santa Clara
County for the choice of senator and assemblyman which re-
sulted in the workingmen electing their candidate for the lat-
ter against a combination of Republicans and Democrats. In
March they elected their candidates for mayor and for several
other offices in both Oakland and Sacramento. From this time,
however, may be said to date the beginning of the decline of the
Workingmen's party of California. It had become a factor
in state and municipal affairs, and politicians now entered it
with the object of obtaining offices or of using the organisation
for the benefit of other political parties. The senator whom
they elected in January in Alameda County disregarded from
the first the principles of the party and refused to resign.
Kearney and his friends were loudly accused of corruption, and
a split became inevitable. On May 4 Kearney held a meeting
of his faction, which deposed Roney, Knight, and others from
the executive committee. The anti-Kearney faction also met,
deposed Kearney as president of the party upon the grounds of
corruption and despotic behaviour, and temporarily appointed
Roney in his place.
As a result of the dissensions, two separate state conventions
were called for May 16 for the purpose of nominating delegates
to the constitutional convention. The county delegates were in
doubt as to which faction they should join, but, after having
heard the arguments of both, 20 joined the Kearney faction and
10 the opposition, while 9 refused to affiliate with either. The
Kearney convention, after much discussion, passed a resolution
declaring all officers of the party ineligible as candidates for
any public office. I'he convention of the anti-Kearney faction
was put poorly attended, and nominated only a few candidates.
Its platform was radical and socialistic, while the Kearney plat-
form was characterised by the press as being " as mild as a
platform could well be."
260 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UmTED STATES
In the campaign whicli followed, trouble continued between
these factions of the party. The Democrats and Eepublicans
joined forces and nominated a non-partisan ticket, hoping
thereby to defeat the workingmen's candidates.
In the election for the constitutional convention which took
place on June 19, 78 non-partisans were elected, 51 working-
men, 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, and 2 independents. The
workingmen carried San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Nevada
City. In Los Angeles they had united with the Grangers.
The defeat of the Kearneyites in Oakland, Sacramento, and
San Jose was significant in view of their victory at preceding
elections. The sand-lotters had been successful in the mining
counties and in southern California. In the latter portion of
the State, the loudest complaint had been made with regard to
land monopoly and the inequality of taxation. In the central
and northern counties less had been heard of these grievances.
The party had also polled its heaviest vote in those counties
which had suffered most from the drought of the preceding
year.
Immediately following the election, Kearney went to Boston,
primarily with the object of seeing what could be done to-
wards organising a national party. He lent his support to But-
ler's campaign for governor, but after several violent addresses
he was quickly repudiated by Butler. In his absence the move-
ment began to quiet down. The people had begun to tire of the
agitation and a slight revival in the business world had re-
duced the number of unemployed.
At the constitutional convention the workingmen allied them-
selves with the farmer element and introduced many proposi-
tions directed against the Chinese and the capitalists, such,
for instance, as that no alien should be permitted to hold prop-
erty in the State ; that Chinese should not be allowed to peddle
or carry on any mercantile business ; that there should be only
one legislative body ; that land grabbing must be stopped. The
greater portion of these propositions offered by the committee
were rejected. However, a section was adopted providing that
" no corporation now existing, or hereafter formed under the
laws of this state, shall, after the adoption of this constitution.
ANTI-CHINESE 261
employ directly or indirectly, in any capacity, any Chinese or
Mongolian."
The constitution as worked out by the convention was
adopted by the people against the general opposition of the
newspapers and of the business interests by a vote of T'TjOSO to
67,134. Kearney had canvassed the State in favour of it,
while Knight had been sent out by the anti-Kearney faction to
talk against it. This marked the last appearance of Knight in
the sand-lot movement, ^^ and also the end of his faction. The
largest vote in favour of the constitution came from the northern
and southern counties of the State. The agricultural counties
which favoured its adoption were suffering from land
monopoly and railways. The prosperous agricultural coun-
ties, as a unit, rejected it. The lumber counties, where trade
was slack, voted for it. The balloting demonstrated beyond
question that " hard times " had played an important part in
its adoption.
In June, 1879, the state convention of the Workingmen's
party of California met in San E'rancisco to nominate candi-
dates for state and congi-essional offices. Kearney presided, but
the proceedings were orderly. W. F. White, a wealthy rancher,
was nominated for governor with W. R. Andrus, of Oakland,
who had been elected in 1879 as mayor on the workingmen's
ticket, as his running mate. During the ensuing campaign,
the workingmen fused in many places with other parties and
succeeded in electing 11 senators, 17 assemblymen, and a rail-
way commissioner. In the legislature they were outnumbered
only by the Republicans, but accomplished nothing of impor-
tance.
In the same year, the workingmen took part in their first
municipal campaign in San Francisco. Their nominee for
mayor was Reverend I. S. Kalloch, pastor of the Metropolitan
Temple, a " people's church." Formerly, Kalloch had been
strongly pro-Chinese, but he changed rather abruptly with the
success of the Kearney agitation. On September 3, together
with a number of workingmen's candidates, he was elected
mayor by a safe majority. Through his entire term of office
12 He thereafter devoted himself exclusively to newspaper work.
262 HISTORY OF LABOUR m THE UNITED STATES
Kallocli was opposed by the board of supervisors, only one of
whom belonged to his party.
During the early months of 1880, another agitation, distinct
from the Kearney movement in many respects, arose among the
unemployed of San Francisco. Business was exceedingly dull,
and large numbers of men were out of work. Immigration
from the eastern States had been encouraged by false reports
in the newspapers, with the result that many people had en-
tered the State during the latter part of 1879. On January
18, 1880, a meeting was called by the painters' union with
Thomas Bates, a socialist, as chairman, for the purpose of dis-
cussing the situation. Out of this grew a movement to enforce
the clause in the new constitution which prohibited corpora-
tions from employing Chinese. Theretofore it had remained
unenforced. Large numbers of men marched from factory to
factory demanding the discharge of the Mongolians and threat-
ening violence in case of refusal. Several of the leaders were
members of the Socialist Labor party. Finally the legisla-
ture passed a law, in conformity with the constitution, later de-
clared invalid, ^^ prohibiting the employment of Chinese by
corporations, and considerable numbers were discharged by sev-
eral large corporations.
The agitation, however, continued and grew more violent
and the speakers became more outspoken in their remarks, un-
til the city was once more as excited as during the early days of
the Kearney movement. A secret conunittee of safety was
formed ; business was brought to a standstill. The climax was
reached in Februarj^ when the board of health declared China-
town a nuisance and decided that it should be abated. Now
the business men in their turn threatened violence in case any
attempt should be made to carry out the order. An ordinance
increasing the police force was passed over the mayor's veto.
On March 11, Kearney and Gannon, a leader of the unem-
ployed, were arrested for the use of incendiary language. Both
were sentenced to six months' imprisonment but were later re-
leased by the Supreme Court on the ground that, although the
city ordinance under which they had been arrested was valid,
it did not cover the misdemeanor charged. The arrest and the
13 In re Tiburcio Parrott, 1 Fed. 481 (1880).
ANTI-CHINESE 263
final decision helped to keep alive the Workingmen's party for
a time.
But the organisation had lost the greater part of its
earlier characteristics and had become a party of politicians
only. In January, 1880, Kearney had attended the conference
called by the greenbackers in Washington, D. C, and he came
back an avowed greenbacker. But, in the meantime, the Demo-
cratic party in California had grown extremely weak and was
eager to fuse and divide offices with any organisation having a
chance of victory in the approaching elections. The result was
that during the next few months a struggle ensued between the
Democrats and the greenbackers for the control of the Work-
ingmen's party of California.
On March 15 a convention was held by the Workingmen's
party of San Francisco and fifteen freeholders were nominated,
who, if elected, were to have served on the board having in
charge the preparation of a new charter for the city. The list
of nominees was composed largely, not of members of the party,
but of a number of prominent Democrats and a few Kepubli-
cans. A committee of 200 from the Citizens' Protective Union
nominated a strong ticket in opposition to the workingmen's,
and it received the endorsement of the Republicans. The ex-
pectation of violence at this election was not realised. The
workingmen's candidates were overwhelmingly defeated, as they
had been shortly before defeated in the municipal elections at
Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose. This in itself did much
to break the spirit of the members of that organisation, so that
the dissolution of the party was practically only a question of
time.
On April 5 the executive committee met and elected dele-
gates to the Greenback Labor convention in Chicago. This
act aroused great opposition among the ward clubs and many
openly affiliated with the Democratic party. The state conven-
tion met, May 17, with 100 delegates in attendance from 20
different counties. Upon the advice of Kearney, who was at
that time in jail, delegates were chosen to the Greenback-Labor
convention, notwithstanding the opposition coming from those
supporting the Democrats. The greenback-Kearney delegates
came, for the most part, from the interior counties.
264 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
The movement within the city also was split in twain as a
result of the convention. Clubs were disbanded; others were
reorganised. In June, Kearney went to Chicago and was
made a member of the national executive committee of the
Greenback party. During his absence the party moved still
further on the way to disruption. The opposing faction met,
deposed Kearney, and endorsed the national Democratic plat-
form and candidates. The Workingmen's party nominated no
ticket of its own, but fused throughout the State with the Demo-
crats and greenbackers. The Workingmen's party of Cali-
fornia was dead. During 1881-1883, Kearney spoke fre-
quently at Sunday meetings on the sand-lots, but his remarks
were cool and moderate and attracted little attention. After
the campaign of 1880 he returned to his draying business, but
again entered politics in 1881 as an active member of the Ajiti-
Monopoly party. In 1882 he canvassed the State for the
(Democratic nominee for governor. In 1884 he abandoned
politics and became a real estate agent and stock broker as well
as the proprietor of an employment office. From that time
until his death in 1907, he took no part in public affairs.
Had the unemployed in San Francisco, with their violent
leaders, been the only class opposed to Chinese immigration,
the movement would hardly have had any success. Beginning,
however, in the early seventies, employers had started to join
forces with the wage-earners in their opposition to the Chinese.
They, too, had begun to feel the effects of the Chinese in in-
dustry. They had taught the aliens to make cigars, boots and
shoes, clothing, and the like, and had been perfectly satisfied
with the situation as long as the Chinese had been willing to
work under the conditions and for the wages fixed by the white
employers. Their attitude changed, however, when the Chinese
themselves began to set up in business, to hire their fellow
countrymen, and to sell their goods in direct competition with
those manufactured by their former employers and instructors.
It was useless to attempt to meet their prices. As one paper
remarked, " a Chinese manufacturer has many advantages over
an American in the employment of Chinese labor. In the
first place they employ for at least half the wages, and then
they get twice the amount of work out of their help. Hence,
ANTI-CHINESE 265
they can at any time undersell the American proprietor. In
fact, in the boot and shoe trade, the white manufacturers are
obliged to purchase the cheap grade of boots and shoes from the
Chinese manufacturers. So that the nemesis of cheap labor
is now affecting the white employers as well as the white me-
chanics and laborers." ^*
As soon as capital had enlisted against the Chinese, the
press, public opinion, and legislatures showed a marvellous
change of attitude. State laws and municipal ordinances were
used to remedy the evil, but they were as a rule declared uncon-
stitutional.^^ Next an appeal was made to Congress to pro-
hibit the importation of Chinese. In 1876 the question became
an issue of national importance. In that year, each of the na-
tional parties inserted an anti-Chinese plank in its platform.
In the same year Congress appointed a commission to investi-
gate the situation upon the coast, and, after examining a large
number of witnesses, a voluminous report was submitted, recom-
mending that immediate action be taken to restrict Chinese
immigration.^^
It was for this reason, namely, that it was an expression, an
extreme one, to be sure, of the general sentiment in the State,
that the Kearney agitation met with such singular success.
Indeed, it led to far-reaching results. It served to emphasise
the Chinese question as a subject of national importance and
forced upon the Federal Government the necessity of abro-
gating the Burlingame Treaty. It was also the most active
factor in the formation and adoption of the new constitution.
During the later seventies, owing to the Kearney agitation,
the number of Chinese entering the United States had greatly
decreased. Consequently, the opposition of the workingmen
was for a time deadened. The ratification of the treaty of
1880, however, changed the situation completely. This treaty
with China contained the provision that the government of the
United States "may regulate, limit, or suspend" the coming
14 Sa/n Francisco Chronicle, Apr. 27, TJ. S. 356 (1886) ; In re Tie Loy, 26
1873. Fed. 611 (1886) ; In re Lee Sing et Al.,
18 In re Ah Fong, 3 Sawy. 144 (1874) ; 43 Fed. 359 (1890).
Chii Lung V. Freeman, 92 U. S. 275 16 Reports of Committees of the Senate,
(1875) ; Ho Ah Kow v. Nunan, 5 Sawy. 44 Cong., 2 sess., 1876-1877, No. 689,
552 (1879) ; In re Quong Woo, 13 Fed. vol. I.
229 (1882); Tick Wo v. Hopkins, 118
266 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
of Chinese labourers, but " may not absolutely prohibit it."
Every ship crossing the Pacific was filled with Chinese hasten-
ing to get into the United States before the gates should be
closed against them. In the three years, 1880-1882, more
than 57,000 were admitted, while in 1882 more than 39,000
arrived. Under such circumstances, it was not surprising that
the anti-Chinese agitation was renewed.
But the new movement differed from the Kearney agitation.
Prosperity had set in early in 1881. Unemployment fell off
and labour organisations began to thrive. So it was that or-
ganised labour and not the unorganised mass of unemployed
took up the agitation.
As early as March, 1878, as a result of an informal dis-
cussion by three delegates to the first state convention of the
Workingmen's party of California, who also were members of
the unions of their respective trades, there was organised the
Eepresentative Assembly of Trades and Labor Unions. The
first meeting was attended by representatives from twelve
trades. However, for the next three years, the organisation
lacked vitality and leadership. It was not until July, 1881,
when Frank Roney came as a delegate from the Seamen's Pro-
tective Union, that all this was changed. After he had severed
connection with both the Kearney and anti-Kearney factions
of the Workingmen's party, Roney became a socialist and an
active trade unionist. Though not a sailor, he organised in
September, 1880, the seamen's union which he represented.
Under Roney' s leadership, energetic action was taken to or-
ganise the unorganised trades, to bring about prison labour re-
form and, particularly to popularise the anti-Chinese labels
of the cigar makers and shoemakers. These were the begin-
nings of the trade union label, which later became an impor-
tant factor in the American labour movement. ^'^
IT In 1875 a cigar makers' union in instance of the use of the union label by
San Francisco which was unaffiliated with cigar makers. The earliest use of the
the International Cigar Makers' Union. union label, as far as is known, was made
became incorporated under the laws of also in San Francisco in 1869, by a car-
California, and adopted a stamp which it penters' eight-hour league, which furn-
registered as its trade-mark. The stamp ished a stamp to all planing mills running
was issued by the union to employers who on the eight-hour plan, so that they would
employed exclusively white labour. Sped. be able to identify the work of the ten-
den, "The Trade Union Label," in hour mills. Lucile Eaves, A. History of
Johns Hopkins University Publications California hohor Legislation, 209,
XXVTII, 9-10. This is the first known
ANTI-CHINESE 267
Witb the idea of organising the opposition to the Chinese, the
trades assembly called a state convention of labour and anti-
Chinese organisations to be held in San Francisco, April 24,
1880. The meeting was attended by delegates from forty
trade unions in the State. The outcome was the formation of
a League of Deliverance with F. Koney as chairman. By
the end of May, 13 branches of the League had been formed,
especially in San Francisco, with a membership of more than
4,000.
The weapon most frequently used by the League was the boy-
cott of Chinese-made goods. It was conducted systematically
and with great effect. It was in this connection that the first
boycott case was tried in a California court, resulting in the
acquittal of the defendants and causing many factories to dis-
charge their Mongolian help.
Meantime the movement for Chinese exclusion grew in in-
tensity and became wide spread. It was urgently demanded by
labour organisations throughout the country and by all the
States west of the Eocky Mountains. The platforms of both
national parties in 1880 contained planks pledging their candi-
dates to its support. In 1882 the matter reached final solution
in Congress. The fight for exclusion was led by the senators
and representatives from California, who received ardent sup-
port from the members of the States west of the Rockies. The
South also was in sympathy with the measure. The East,
prompted by humanitarianism and business, opposed it. The
bill, as finally passed, prohibited immigration of Chinese
labourers for a period of twenty years. So eager had the Cali-
fomians been over this first attempt at restriction by the Fed-
eral Government that the governor declared March 4 to be a
state holiday in order that the people might thereby show
approval of the acts of those congressmen and senators who had
supported the measure. A monster demonstration was held in
San Francisco under the auspices of the merchants and pro-
fessional men. When President Arthur vetoed the bill, mainly
on the ground that so long a period of suspension had not been
contemplated by those negotiating the treaty of 1880, meetings
of protest were held throughout the State, and for a time it
seemed as though the agitation would become similar in char-
268 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
acter to that of the early days of the Kearney movement.
However, Congress amended the bill by decreasing the period
of suspension to ten years to take effect in August, 1882, and it
became law. With its passage, the League of Deliverance dis-
banded.
CHAPTER VI
FROM SOCIALISM TO ANARCHISM AND
SYNDICALISM, 1876-1884
The Nationalised International. Preliminary union conference of all
socialist organisations, 269. The Union Congress, 270. The Workingmen's
party of the United States, 270. Resolution on political action, 270.
Plan of organisation, 270. " Trade union " and " political " factions, 270.
Phillip Van Patten, 272. New Haven experiment with politics, 272. Chi-
cago election, 273. Factional differences, 273. Struggle for the Labor
Standard, 274. Douai's effort of mediation, 275. Effect of the great
strikes of 1877 on the factional struggle, 276. Part played by the social-
ists in the strike movement, 277.
Rush Into Politics. Election results, 277. Newark convention, 277.
Control by the political faction, 278. Socialist Labor party, 278. Strength
of the trade union faction in Chicago, 279. Success in the Chicago elec-
tion, 279. Failure in Cincinnati, 279. Van Patten's attitude towards
trade unions, 280. Workingmen's military organisations, 280. Autumn
election of 1879, 282. Chicago — the principal socialist centre, 282.
Influence in the state legislature, 283. Chicago municipal election of
1879, 284. Persistent pro-trade union attitude of the Chicago socialists,
284. Effect of prosperity, 284. National convention at Alleghany City,
284. Differences of opinion on a compromise with the greenbackers, 285.
National greenback convention, 285. The " socialist " plank in the plat-
form, 286. The double revolt: the "trade union" faction, and the revo-
lutionists in the East, 287. Attitude of the New Yorker Volkszeitung,
287. Referendum vote, 288. Decrease in the greenback vote, 289. Strug-
gle between the compromisers and non-compromisers in the socialist ranks,
289.
Evolution Towards Anarchism and " Syndicalism." Chicago and New
York, 291. The national convention of the revolutionary socialists, 291.
Affiliation with the International Working People's Association in London,
291. Attitude towards politics and trade unionism, 292. August Spies,
291. Proposed form or organisation, 292. Political action in Chicago
once more, 292. Reorganisation in Chicago along revolutionary lines, 292.
Johann Most and his philosophy, 293. The Pittsburgh convention and the
Manifesto, 293. Crystallisation of a " syndicalist " philosophy in Chicago,
296. Attitude towards the state, trade unionism, politics, and violence, 294.
A model " syndicalist " trade union, 296. The Red International. 298.
Burnette G. Haskell and Joseph R. Buchanan, 298. Ebb of the Socialist
Labor party, 300.
THE NATIONALISED INTERNATIONAL
ALTHOuaH the Pittsburgh convention of 18Y6 refused to
endorse socialism, it proved a potent agency in favour of
269
270 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
socialist unity. The same joint conference, which decided upon
a common programme of action at the convention, drew up the
articles of fusion.^ The preliminary terms were a victory for
the International since they embodied their attitude on trade
unionism and politics, and, besides provided for an interna-
tional council to maintain permanent connection with the labour
organisations of Europe.^
The conference appointed a committee of two to serve as
an intermediary between the organisations until the final settle-
ment at a Union Congress to be held in Philadelphia. The
congress met July 19, 1876, with the following delegates: F.
A. Sorge and Otto Weydemeyer, from the International ; Con-
rad A. Conzett, from the Labor party of Illinois; Charles
Braun, from the Social Political Workingmen's Society of
Cincinnati; and A. Strasser, A. Gabriel, and P. J. McGuire,
from the Social Democratic party. The platform of the united
party, called the Workingmen's party of the United States,
contained a Declaration of Principles, taken from the General
Statutes of the International, and a list of demands adopted
from the platform of the Social Democratic party. ^ However,
with regard to political action and trade unionism, the plat-
form unequivocally took the position of the International. It
said :
" The political action of the party is confined generally to obtain-
ing legislative acts in the interest of the working class proper. It
will not enter into a political campaign before being strong enough
to exercise a perceptible influence, and then in the first place locally
in the towns or cities, when demands of purely local character may
be presented, providing they are not in conflict with the platform
and principles of the party.
" We work for the organization of trades unions upon a national
and international basis to ameliorate the condition of the working
people and seek to spread therein the above principles.*' *
In the matter of the form of organisation, a concession was
1 The following organisations were rep- 8 In this respect it resembled the plat-
resented at the conference: the Interna- form adopted by the German socialist con-
tional with 635 members, the Labor party gress in 1875 at Gotha at which there took
of Illinois with 593, the Social Democratic place a fusion of the Lassalleans and the
party with 1,500, and the Social-Political Marxists. The fusion in Germany was a
Workingmen's Society of Cincinnati (Ger- factor in accelerating the fusion in Amer-
man) with 250 members. ica.
2 Chicago Vorbote, Apr, 21, 1876, •* Labor Standard, Feb. 24, 1877.
SOCIALISM VERSUS '^ LABORISM " 271
made to the Social Democratic party, whicli demanded a national
organisation instead of an international. The constitution pro-
vided for an Executive Committee and a Board of Control.
Chicago was elected the seat of the former and Newark the seat
of the latter. A further concession to the Lassalleans was made
in a resolution put forward by McGuire and opposed by Sorge,
Strasser, Weydemeyer, and Conzett, empowering the executive
committee to allow local sections to enter political campaigns
when circumstances were very favourable. The Vorbote in Chi-
cago and the Sozial-Demohrat in ]^ew York were declared official
organs, the name of the latter being changed to the Arbeiter-
stimme. The English organ of the Social Democratic party,
the Socialist, was treated likewise. Its name was changed to
Labor Statidard and McDonnell of the United Workers was
selected editor.
In order not to endanger union any further, the referendum
vote of the membership on the resolutions of the congress was
dispensed with, and the Workingmen's Party of the United
States was launched immediately after the Congress.
The unification of the socialist factions in 1876 did not do
away with the differences within the movement. The two op-
posing factions, the Internationalist and the Lassallean, con-
tinued to exist as before. However, their differences became
more crystallised and were reduced, as it were, to their bare
essence. The fundamental difference, that between trade union-
ism, emphasised by the International, and political action, advo-
cated by the Lassalleans, was no longer hidden beneath other
distinctions lying nearer the surface. The Internationalists had
conceded to the Lassalleans that the labour movement must be-
come nationalised in order to succeed ; the Lassalleans, on their
part, had conceded that the emancipation of labour might come
through agencies different from co-operative societies with state
credit. Similarly, the old terms " Lassallean '' and " Interna-
tionalist " gradually gave way to the simpler ones, " political "
socialist and " trade union " socialist, which served to convey
a better and more exact impression of the actual difference.
The victory won by the " trade union " element in the negotia-
tions for unity had been due mainly to the fact that the necessity
for capturing the National Labor Convention had made its
2Y2 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
leadership imperative. The lasting predominance of the ^' trade
union '' element was therefore far from being assured.
This came to light soon after the selection of a National Exec-
utive Committee, which, in accordance with the constitution,
was made by the sections in Chicago, the Union Congress having
chosen that city as the seat of the board. The New Haven sec-
tions, numbering about a hundred members, decided by a ma-
jority of two votes to petition the board for permission to nomi-
nate candidates for the legislature. The Labor Standard and
the Vorbote opposed it, but through the efforts of the national
secretary, Phillip Van Patten, permission was finally granted.®
Van Patten was a native American, coming from the middle
class and was a leading figure in the socialist movement from
1876 to 1884. His sympathies from the very beginning were
apparently with the political rather than with the trade union
faction.
The outcome of the New Haven experiment was quite favour-
able, the ticket polling 640 votes.^ It naturally tended to en-
courage the political faction throughout the country, so that the
question of immediate political action became the foremost one
in the party and the party organs. The example was followed
in February, 1877, by the Cincinnati sections.'^ In Milwaukee,
where Gustav Lyser, a former Lassallean, edited a paper, the
sections formed a Social Democratic party with the object of
taking part in the spring election. Even in Chicago, the centre
of the trade union faction, the pressure in favour of participat-
ing in the next election became so strong that it could no longer
be resisted.^
The political faction in Chicago was represented by former
Lassalleans and by a group of English-speaking socialists. The
former had their o^vn organ, called first the Sozialist and later
changed to the Chicagoer Volkszeitung. Knowing that the trade
union faction, the Vorbote and its followers, would agree to
enter politics only under extreme pressure, they called a mass
meeting. This was attended by 600 or 700 people, and put
through a resolution declaring for entry in the political cam-
paign in the spring, irrespective of whether the national execu-
5 New York Arbeiterstimme, Nov. 26, 1876. 7 Ibid., Feb. 25, 1877.
6 Ibid. 8 Chicago Vorbote, Mar. 10, 1877.
SOCIALISM VERSUS " LABOEISM '^ 273
tive permitted it or not. Prominent in this action were Karl
Klinge, Kraus, and Winnen (former Lassalleans), and Albert
R. Parsons, who had recently joined the English-speaking sec-
tion.^ The Vorhote group, or the trade union faction, desiring
to avoid a split in the party, reluctantly gave in, and Parsons
was nominated at a general meeting of the sections as candidate
for alderman in the Fifteenth ward on a platform demanding
municipal ownership of public utilities, the abolition of the
contract system on city works, fair hours and fair wages for
city employes, and similar measures. ^°
The result of the election proved encouraging. Parsons
polled one-sixth of the total vote cast in his ward.^^ In Mil-
waukee the socialist ticket polled 1,500 votes and elected 2 alder-
men, 2 supervisors, and 2 constables. -^^ In Cincinnati the so-
cialist vote reached 3,900, one-tenth of all the votes cast.
This success helped further to strengthen the political faction
in its discontent with the restrictions imposed by the Union
CongTCss. Already, in February, 1877, the German section in
ISTew York had requested the German section in N'ewark to sup-
port a proposal that a party convention should be called at an
early date. The Newark section, which belonged to the trade
union faction, flatly refused, declaring that the status established
by the Union Congress needed no change. -^^
The situation was described in the correspondence which ap-
peared in April, 1877, in the Sozial-Demohrat, the central organ
of the social democracy in Germany : ^^
*' The unification of both socialist factions in America, which was
accomplished with enormous difficulty, is still in danger. . . . The
Lassalleans, and with them the younger immigrants, who are yet
novices in the labour movement, desire to enter the political arena
so as to acquire influence, by means of universal suffrage, first in the
municipality, then in the several states, and are consequently very
much dissatisfied with the decision of the Union Congress, which
prohibits the sections from participating in local elections before
they can feel certain of success, and even then only on a platform of
purely labour demands. The Internationalists and the older and
more experienced immigrants, on the other hand, foresee nothing
» Ihid. 13 Ihid., Feb. 28, 1877.
10 Ihid., Mar. 17 and 24, 1877. 14 Reprinted in the Chicago TorhoU,
11 Ihid., Apr. 14, 1877. May 19, 1877.
12 New York, ArheiUr»timme, Apr. 15, 1877.
274 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
but calamity if political action is begun at once. The fonner have
small faith in trade unions and their efficacy; the latter expect sal-
vation to come only from the trade unions. The former point to
the example of the German socialists, the latter to that of the British
trade unions. The former are represented in the Arheiterstimme
and in the German dailies of Chicago [the Volkszeitung] and Mil-
waukee [the Sozialist], as well as in the newly established English
paper in Milwaukee [the Emancipator] ; the latter in the Vorbote
and Labor Standard. The former seek to get the small bourgeoisie
interested in the party; the latter want to restrict it exclusively
to wage-earners and expect only demoralisation to follow from
a participation by still unproletarised small bourgeois. The
former are seeking to change the party platform at another con-
vention, the latter threaten to step out of the party should this
occur. . . ."
For a time, the Arheiterstimme of New York, edited by Dr.
Otto Walster, tried to occupy a neutral position. It opened
its columns to both sides and accepted articles from John
Schaf er, of the political faction, as v^ell as from Adolph Strasser,
who, notwithstanding his brief sojourn in the camp of the Las-
salleans, was above all an advocate of trade unions. Finally,
in May, 1877, it unequivocally put itself among the ranks of
the political socialists. -^^ ^' We consider that the trade-union
movement in itself is sufficiently harmless but we also maintain
that those trade unionists are extremely harmful who believe
that this weapon [the trade union] is not a mere palliative, but
possesses sufficient strength to bring about the abolition of the
poverty, exploitation and oppression of the organised as well as
of the unorganised labouring masses." McDonnell, the editor
of the Labor Standard and the leader of the English-speaking
socialists in the East, went to the opposite extreme. While fa-
vouring legislation, he declared that " as long as there are work-
ing people starving, it is utterly wrong to spend money on ob-
jects which bring no immediate relief to the toiler," and, fur-
ther, that '' political action must be of a practical character.
To convince the masses that we are in earnest, we must always,
act for the material interests of the whole working class, never
indulge in mere speculations. A mere canvass for some mem-
bers of our own party will fail to attract the support that politi-
15 New York Arbeiteretimme, May 20, 1877.
SOCIALISM VERSUS " LABORISM " 275
cal [legislative] action on our part for some great measure such
as the reduction of the hours of labor would bring. . . ." ^^
The Vorbote in Chicago fully agreed with the Labor Stand-
ard on the supreme importance of trade unions, but was more
lenient with respect to immediate political action. ^'^ This dif-
ference of opinion readily lends itself to explanation when we
recall that in Chicago the trade union socialists had been forced
to compromise with their " political " brethren and to take up
political action. The National Executive Committee, influ-
enced by Van Patten, was strongly in sympathy with the politi-
cal faction. It despatched P. J. McGuire on an extended tour
over the country, during which he made an effective agitation
for political action. It was also zealous in supporting the
Arbeiterstimme, while it was only lukewarm toward the Labor
Standard. The American section in New York even went as
far as to accuse Van Patten of intriguing to replace the Labor
Standard by the " political " Milwaukee Emancipator as the
official English organ of the party.
In the beginning of May, the controversy reached a critical
stage. The Labor Standard suspended publication for a week,
and reappeared with the consent of the National Board of Con-
trol.-^® It was still the official organ of the party but its owner-
ship was transferred from the party to a private publishing as-
sociation of which McDonnell was director. This caused a
tempest in the camp of the political faction. The business
manager of the Arbeiterstimme, who also acted as business man-
ager for the Labor Standard, refused to deliver the books to the
new association. The National Executive Committee felt in-
censed over the unconstitutional interference by the National
Board of Control and retaliated in an equally unconstitutional
manner by setting aside the Board which had its seat in Newark
and by calling upon the New Haven sections to elect its suc-
cessor. At the same time the National Executive Committee
submitted to a referendum vote, with its favourable recom-
mendation, a call for a new party convention made ^® by the
political faction.
Adolph Douai attempted to arbitrate between the quarrelling
16 Labor Standard, Mar. 24, 1877. 18 Labor Standard, June 2, 1877.
IT Chicago Vorbote, Aug. 11, 1877. le New York i.r&e«cr*tirHme, June 3, 1877.
276 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
factions. At a general meeting of the New York sections, called
for that purpose, he admitted that trade unions on the British
pattern were imperfect, but he pointed out that, on the other
hand, it was utterly impossible to adopt the tactics of the German
Social Democracy, for " should we adopt immediate political
action, our party would be in peril of being overrun by non-
proletarian elements." ^^ Douai's mission proved unsuccessful,
for the opponents charged him with viewing matters too much
through Sorgo's spectacles. ^^
Meanwhile, a new factor, far more powerful than the argu-
ments on either side, came to determine which element should
have the upper hand in the party. The great strike of July,
1877, broke out and spread over the country. The Working-
men's party was taken completely unaware, but in numerous
cities socialist sections or individual socialists made good use of
this spontaneous outburst. In St. Louis, when the general ex-
citement caused the shutting down of factories and slaughter
houses, the socialists called a mass meeting and elected an execu-
tive committee to look after the interests of the workingmen.
The panic of the authorities was so great that this committee,
about whose membership nobody really knew anything, was able
to hold undisputed sway over the city for more than a week. In
Chicago, the socialist masses were the hardest sufferers. There
the police did not wait for the rioting to begin, but broke into
the hall where cabinet makers on strike were holding a mass
meeting and unmercifully attacked the assembly, with the result
that there were dead and wounded on both sides. ^^ This un-
necessary use of violence on the part of the police was remem-
bered for many years afterwards and was partly responsible for
the tactics of violence that the Chicago movement adopted at a
later date.
The National Executive Committee ordered the sections to
call mass meetings and to offer resolutions for an eight-hour law
throughout the union, for the abolition of all conspiracy laws
and for the purchase by the Federal Government of the railway
and telegraph lines.^^ In Chicago, a mass meeting of 15,000
to 20,000 people had adopted a similar resolution. ^^ In Brook-
20 Ibid., June 17, 1877. 23 New York Arbeiterstimme, Sept. 2,
21 Ibid. 1877.
22 Chicago Vorbote, Aug. 4, 1877. 24 Chicago Vorbote, July 28, 1877.
SOCIALISM 277
lyn, Newark, Paterson, and other cities^' the socialists devel-
oped like activity. In Louisville, Kentucky, the German and
English sections called a general labour convention and nomi-
nated 7 candidates for the legislature, of whom 5 were elected,
and the ticket polled a total vote of 8,848 against 5,162 cast for
the Democrats. ^^
THE RUSH INTO POLITICS
The outcome of the struggle within the party between the
trade union and political factions was thus decided in favour of
the latter by the political turn of the general labour movement.
The sections began making preparations for the next campaign
in spite of the decision of the Union Congress. The need for a
new convention to revise the party's attitude toward political
action became so pressing that the executive committee and the
Board of Control jointly issued on October 14, 1877, a call for a
convention that should meet in Newark on November ll,^"*^ not-
withstanding the fact that the referendum had decided against
a convention.^ ^
Meanwhile, many of the local sections nominated candidates
for the autumn election and met with considerable success. The
vote was approximately as follows : in Chicago, 7,000 ; Cincin-
nati, 9,000; Buffalo, 6,000; Milwaukee, 1,500; New York,
1,800 ; Brooklyn, 1,200 ; New Haven, 1,600 ; and Detroit, 800.2^
In many cities the sections compromised with the greenbackers.
In Louisville they headed the platform with a money plank;
in Pittsburgh, they nominated a joint ticket. In Philadelphia
and Baltimore the Workingmen's party was weak and the
swollen labour vote went to the greenbackers.
The party convention met in Newark on December 26, 1877,
several weeks later than the date that had been set in the call.
Twenty-nine sections were represented: 17 German, 7 English,
3 Bohemian, 1 French, and 1 women's section. The inland
sections, with few exceptions, were represented by proxies. Chi-
cago sent A. E. Parsons and St. Louis, Albert Currlin. The
25 New York Arheiteratimme, Aug. 5, 29 These are the figures given in the
1877. Chicago Vorbote, Nov. 3 and 17, 1877,
2Qlbid., Aug. 19, 1877. and New York Arbeiterttimme, Nov. 18,
27 New York Arbeiteratimme, Oct. 14, 1877,
1877.
28 Chicago Forbotc, Sept. 1, 1877.
278 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Labor Standard element kept away from the convention. The
report of the National Executive Committee stated that the total
number of sections was 72, with approximately 7,000 members
in good standing, that the party published 21 papers, of which
the Chicagoer Arheiter-Zeitung and the Philadelphia Tageblatt
were dailies.
From the very beginning of the convention it was apparent
that the political faction was in control. A special conmiittee,
on examining the report of the National Executive Committee,
reported that the latter was vn-ong when it stated that the former
members of the Social Democratic party were the only ones dis-
satisfied with the decision of the Union Congress in 1876 to
abstain from politics for the present. The former members of
the organisations in Milwaukee and Cincinnati, as well as a
portion of the Labor party of Illinois, were also among the
dissatisfied element. The report was adopted by the conven-
tion, which further sustained the policy of the National Execu-
tive Committee with respect to the Labor Standard, and de-
clared as the official organs of the party the Arbeiterstimme, the
Bohemian daily DelnicJce Listy in Cleveland, and an English
paper which it was decided to establish in place of the Labor
Standard. The Vorbote in Chicago was punished for its ad-
herence to the trade union faction by being removed from the
list of the officially recognised papers. Alexander Jonas was
elected editor of the Arbeiterstimme in place of George Winter,
who was temporary editor, after Otto Walster had resigned
to become editor of the Arbeiterstimme des West ens in St.
Louis. The seat of the National Executive Committee was
transferred to Cincinnati, with the provision, however, that Van
Patten should continue as secretary. The National Board of
Control was left in Newark, and Alleghany City was chosen
as the place of the next convention.
Further, the name of the party was changed to Socialist La-
bor party and the declaration of principles and the constitution
were fundamentally remodelled. These naturally affirmed that
political action was the main function of the party, but included
a provision that no man could be nominated for office if he had
not been a party member for at least one year. It was also de-
cided that the party " should maintain friendly relations with
SOCIALISM 279
the trade unions and should promote their formation upon so-
cialistic principles,'^ that there should be only one section in a
locality, which could be subdivided further into ward and pre-
cinct organisations, but that business should be transacted only
at the general meeting of the section. All sections of one State
should form a state organisation ^^ which should hold a con-
vention before each state election. The national convention
should meet at least once in two years and should select the seats
of the National Executive Committee and the National Board
of Control, the two highest agencies in the party.
Thus reorganised, it was thought that the Socialist Labor
party was admirably fitted for its paramount function — the
management of political campaigns.
The constitution which was adopted at the convention in
Newark provided that a referendum vote of the sections should
be taken on its decisions. The feeling in the party, however,
was so overwhelmingly in favour of the new policy that the
Vorhote^^ accepted it as a foregone conclusion. Chicago re-
mained the stronghold of the trade union faction, but even there
it was far from having complete control. For the English-
speaking branch, which had first been organised by P. J. Mc-
Guire in 1876, and which had since steadily gained in strength
imder the leadership of Thomas J. Morgan, George Schilling,
and A. E. Parsons, belonged to the political faction.
Meanwhile, the time for the spring election drew closer.
The socialists made nominations in Chicago and Cincinnati,
and in Milwaukee several of the candidates were endorsed by the
old parties. The vote stood at about 8,000 in Chicago, one-
seventh of the total vote cast, while it had been only one-eighth
the autumn before, and two aldermen were elected. ^^ In Cin-
cinnati, the vote fell from 9,000 to 1,800.^^ The difference in
the fate of the tickets in these cities is easily understood when
we take into consideration that in Chicago over 100 trade union-
ists distributed socialist tickets on election day,^* while in Cin-
cinnati no such close connection with the trade unions existed.
30 The proceedings of the Newark con- 32 Chicago Vorbote, Apr. 13, 1878.
vention are given in the Chicago Vorbote, 33 Ibid.
Jan. 5, 1878; and in the New York Ar- 34 The Chicago Vorbote of June 22,
beiterstimme, Jan. 6, 1878. The Labor 1878, enumerates over twenty trade un-
Standard passed it by in complete silence. ions in Chicago which had indorsed the
3x Jan. 12, 1878. Socialist Labor party.
280 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
It appears that the trade union socialists, who were opposed to
immediate political action and accepted it only under pressure,
were in a better position than their " political " brethren to
secure a lasting political success.
In May, 1878, the National Executive Committee began pub-
lishing an English weekly in Cincinnati, the National Socialist,
Van Patten was a steady contributor and controlled the policy
of the paper. When McDonnell, with the followers of Ira
Steward, launched the International Labor Union ^^ in an at-
tempt to organise the unskilled, Van Patten wrote : " The In-
ternational Labor Union is far from perfect, and is unfortu-
nately afflicted with a narrow-minded management. Its plans
and its platform, however, are good, and it is easier to purify
it by developing, than to stamp out and commence afresh, sup-
posing the latter was entertained. The men who have called it
into existence are earnest, and with a few exceptions, honest. '^ ^^
In contrast with Van Patten's lukewarm and reserved ap-
proval, the Vorhote gave the International Labor Union an
enthusiastic welcome and declared that its formation was a
triumph for the Socialist Labor party. ^"^
The differences between the trade union faction in Chicago
and the National Executive Committee soon reached an acute
stage over the question of workingmen's military organisations.
Such an organisation, called the Lehr und Wehr Verein, had
been organised and incorporated by the Chicago German social-
ists in 1875 in protest against the policy of physical intimidation
practised by the old political parties on election day.^® The
need for such societies seemed to be more fully demonstrated in
the atrocities committed by the police in Chicago during the
strike of the cabinetmakers in July, 1877. The example set in
Chicago began to be imitated in other cities, so that finally the
National Executive Committee grew alarmed, and on June 13,
1878, issued an address repudiating all socialist military organ-
isations.^® At once the Vorhote came to the aid of socialist
militarism. It pointed out that the organisations might become
useful if the ruling class should dare to restrict the right of free
35 See below, II, 308 et seq. 88 Ibid., May 11, 1878.
36 Cincinnati National Socialist, May 39 Cincinnati National Socialiat, June
11, 1878. 22, 1878.
87 Chicago Torbote, July 13, 1878.
SOCIALISM AND ^^LABORISM" 281
speech and of public meeting, or if the police should again
commit atrocities against strikers as they had done in 1877.
^^ Such," the Vorbote declared, " was the view of all those who
cared nothing for being elected to office, but who kept at heart
the immediate material betterment of the condition of the work-
ingmen." *^
Gustav Lyser was at that time editor of the Vorbote, after
Conrad Conzett had left for Europe. Lyser, as was seen, had
changed from an enemy of trade unions to an extreme trade
union socialist. The Vorbote stood alone among the entire so-
cialist press *^ in its defence of military organisations. The
National Executive Committee, upheld by the majority of the
sections, retaliated by repudiating the Vorbote as a party organ.
One month later, the management of the paper passed into the
hands of Paul Grottkau, one of the first refugees to America
from the German anti-socialist law of 1878. The issue of mili-
tary organisation was allowed to fall asleep, but the changed
management by no means meant a radical change in the policy
of the paper, for Grottkau had embraced the views of the trade
union socialists as soon as he grew familiar with the situation.
Evidently the trade union socialists were not impressed by the
fear, which underlay the policy of Van Patten and the political
faction, that a recognition of the military organisations would
drive law-abiding voters away from the party.
The factional struggle continued unallayed, and Van Patten,
in the semi-annual report of the National Executive Committee,
complained bitterly. A temporary reconciliation was effected
in the following September, when Van Patten was obliged to ask
the Chicago section for aid in establishing an English paper in
Chicago. The National Executive Committee had bad luck with
its official organs. The numerous local papers — there were 19
such papers in 1878, among them 7 dailies — competed so suc-
cessfully with the national organs that the New York Arbeiter-
stimme was compelled to cease publication in June, 1878. The
official organ in the English language, the National Socialist, in
Cincinnati, was also running at such a deficit that its publication
had to be suspended. The Arbeit erstimme could well be dis-
40 Chicago Yorhote, June 29, 1878. cialist papers: 7 dailies, 6 German and 1
41 The Cincinnati National Socialist, Bohemian; 4 German weeklies; 4 Eng-
May 4, 1876, enumerated 17 existing so- lish, 1 Bohemian, and 1 Scandinavian.
282 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
pensed with by the party, for its place was amply filled by the
numerous local German papers. It was different, however, with
the National Socialist. An English organ was necessary to
carry on the agitation among the English-speaking workingmen.
This consideration moved Van Patten to seek to obliterate his
differences with the Chicago section, for Chicago, he thought,
was the only place where an English organ could be sustained.
His negotiations were crowned with success. The new English
organ, called the Socialist, appeared in Chicago on September
14, 1878,^^ under the joint editorship of Erank Hirth, formerly
editor of the Detroit Socialist, a paper sympathising with the
trade-union faction, and A. R„ Parsons.
At the next national and state elections, the socialists in Chi-
cago polled 7,000 votes and elected 4 members to the legislature,
1 senator and 3 assemblymen.^^ In lN"ew York the previous
vote of about 2,000 was now doubled. In St. Louis, 3 socialist
representatives to the legislature were elected. But in Cincin-
nati, where the vote had been over 9,000 a year before and
1,800 six months before, it now fell to about 500. The complete
fiasco in Cincinnati is explained by the fact that the vote in the
autumn election of 1877, immediately following the big strikes,
was unnaturally swollen, and that the Cincinnati socialists, be-
longing to the political faction, had established no connections
with the trade unions. They therefore missed the opportunity
of perpetuating in the latter the political discontent of 1877,
with the inevitable result that they were now at the mercy of
the receding wave of political enthusiasm. In fact, the Cincin-
nati trades council turned against the socialists and endorsed the
Republican candidates.^*
Chicago now became the undisputed centre of the socialist
movement in the country. Its section numbered 870 members
in good standing.*^ It published 4 socialist papers: 2 in the
German language, the Chicagoer Arbeiter-Z eitung (daily) and
the Vorhote; 1 in English, the Socialist, and 1 in Scandinavian,
the Nye Tid. Peace reigned within the section. The political
faction, represented by the English-speaking members, under
Thomas J. Morgan's leadership, peacefully co-operated with the
*2 The Chicago SociaXiat expired within 44 Cincinnati National Socialist, 0ct»
a year. 19, 1878,
43 Chicago Vorbote, Nov. 9, 1878. 45 Chicago Vorbote, Feb. 8, 1879.
SOCIALISM AI^D "LABOEISM" 283
trade union element, a fact which was largely due to the efforts
of A. R. Parsons, who enjoyed the full confidence of both fac-
tions. The influence of the socialist members of the legislature
was considerable. They succeeded in bringing about the ap-
pointment of a joint committee to investigate causes of industrial
depression in the State. Karl Eberhardt, a socialist, was made
chairman of the committee.^^ Thomas J. Morgan, one of the
most influential men in the socialist section, appeared before the
committee on behalf of the Socialist Labor party and the Chi-
cago Trades Council. The intimate relations that existed be-
tween the trade unions and the socialists is further illustrated
by the fact that A. R. Parsons was secretary of the trades coun-
cil. Taking all these facts into consideration, it is not at all
surprising that, at the next municipal election in April, 18Y9,
the socialist vote rose to 11,800 and three aldermen were elected,
in addition to the one elected the preceding year.*'^ In Cincin-
nati the socialist vote was even less than it had been in the
autumn.
The victories at the polls in Chicago, while naturally tending
to bring the political faction into greater prominence, never-
theless caused no great change in the attitude of the trade union
faction. On October 11, 1879, in connection with the forth-
coming party congress, the Vorhote wrote as follows :
" The trade-union organisation always appears to us as the natural
and fundamental organisation of the working class, and, being con-
vinced that it should be entitled to all the support we can possibly
give it, for its own sake, we cannot utter too strongly our feeling of
protest, when here and there the over-zealous but unintelligent fol-
lowers of the political labour movement desire to use the trade unions
as mere auxiliaries for the Social- Democracy and demand that they
should become socialistic in the sense in which that word applies to
our political party."
The Vorhote declared in the same article that if it were
obliged to choose between trade union and political action, its
choice would invariably fall on the former. But we have no
such alternative before us, it proceeded to say ; therefore, we can
be active in both spheres. ^Nevertheless, we miTst always place
economic action above political.
46 Ibid., Feb. 15, 1879. *T Ibid., Apr. 5, 1879.
284 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The return of industrial prosperity in 1879 put an end to the
socialist success at the polls in Chicago. At the autumn election
in 1879, the socialist vote fell from 12,000 to 4,800. The
Vorhote frankly acknowledged that the defeat was due, not to
fraudulent practices by the other parties, but to the return of
" good times." *^ The situation was characterised by Van Pat-
ten as follows: ^^
" The result of the fall election shows little progress made toward
uniting the workingmen. Our party has gained slightly in New
York, Detroit, Cincinnati/^ and lost considerably in Chicago. Were
it not that we have succeeded in awakening a great revival among
the trade unions of the West, we should feel discouraged at the slow
growth of our political strength. . . . The only reliable foundation
to-day is the Trade Union organisation, and while political efforts
of a spasmodic nature will often achieve temporary success, yet the
only test of political strength is the extent to which trade union or-
ganization backs up the political movement."
Van Patten's admission does not signify that he accepted the
position of the trade union faction. Subsequent events will
show that he sought salvation from a different source than trade
unions.
The next national convention of the Socialist Labor party
met in December, 1879, at Alleghany City.^^ The report of
the national executive gave neither the number of sections nor
the membership — a reliable proof of the diminution in the
party's strength. The protest raised by the Chicago German
sub-section against the circular issued by the National Execu-
tive Committee with respect to the military organisations was
disposed of by a compromise. The convention praised the Na-
tional Executive Committee for disclaiming all official connec-
tion between the party and such organisations, but censured it
for calling upon individual party members to withdraw from
them. It also adopted a lukewarm resolution calling for the
support of trade unions, and passed on to its chief business —
the presidential campaign of 1880.
48 Chicago Vorhote, Nov. 8, 1879. 50 In these cities the socialist vote had
49 Bidletin of the Social Labor Move- fallen off at previous elections,
ment, I, No. 2, November, 1879. This 61 It was attended by twenty-five dele-
was issued by the National Executive Com- gates ; Chicago sent Jeffers and Parsons,
mittee in Cincinnati, Ohio, in place cf the
deceased Socialist in Chicago.
SOCIALISM AND GREENBACKISM 285
There were three distinct currents of opinion at the conven-
tion. The delegates from Brooklyn and Philadelphia stood for
a compromise with all liberal and labour organisations, not only
in the selection of candidates, but, if necessary, also in framing
a platform. The delegates from St. Louis, Chicago, and the
, Middle West generally advocated the sending of delegates to the
gTeenback conference ^^ and to the one called by Kearney,^ ^
with instructions, however, that they should use their utmost
endeavours to secure the united support of all labour organisa-
tions and liberal elements for the socialist principles and plat-
form and a socialist candidate. Failing in this, they were to
withdraw from the conferences and nominate an independent
socialist ticket. Lastly, the delegates from New York, Boston,
and Alleghany City insisted that the socialist party should nomi-
nate candidates without reference to any other party.
The convention adopted none of these views in its entirety,
but decided to nominate three men who should be voted upon by
the sections, the one getting the largest number of votes to be
presidential candidate and the next, vice-presidential candidate.
It was further resolved that a special socialist convention be
called in Chicago on the day when the Kearney conference was
set to meet so as to influence it in the direction of socialism.
The three nominees were Caleb Pink and Osborne Ward, of
New York, and Grin A. Bishop, of Chicago. They were chosen,
not by reason of their prominence in the movement, but because
they were the most eligible among the small portion of the mem-
bership which satisfied the constitutional requirements of age
and native birth.
After it had re-elected Van Patten as national secretary and
transferred the seat of the National Executive Committee to
Detroit, the convention adjourned.'^*
In spite of the fact that the Socialist Labor party had taken
no official steps for representation at the greenback conference
in Washington, to be held in January, 1880, the socialist ele-
ment, as shown above, was there represented by A. E. Parsons,
who went as a delegate from the Chicago Eight-Hour League.^*^
52 See above, II, 250. 1880, (The Bulletin was transferred
53 See above, II, 249. with this issue from Cincinnati to Detroit,)
54 Bulletin of the Social Labor Move- 55 Ibid,
ment (Detroit), January and February,
286 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Through a referendum vote, the Socialist Labour party also
rescinded its former decision to proceed with the nomination
of independent candidates, and decided to send delegates to the
convention in Chicago called by the above conference.^^
At the convention the socialists had 44 delegates out of 756.
The prominent leaders, such as Van Patten, Parsons, Douai,
and McGuire were in attendance. Realising that they were too
weak numerically to play an important role in the convention,
they decided to centre their efforts upon the adoption of the
following plank :
" We declare that land, light, air and water are the free gifts of
nature to all mankind, and any law or custom of society that allows
any person to monopolise more of these gifts than he has a right to,
to the detriment of the rights of others, we earnestly condemn and
seek to abolish." ^"^
Even this colourless plank, which contained nothing spe-
cifically socialistic, proved unacceptable to the greenback lead-
ers. Through a skilful use of parliamentary methods they suc-
ceeded in preventing a vote upon it until after the platform had
been adopted and nominations made. Then it was adopted by
a large majority, not, however, as a plank in the platform, for
the greenback parliamentarians claimed that nothing could be
added to the platform after nominations had been made, but
merely as a special resolution of the convention which was ^' just
as good.'' Notwithstanding this procedure, the socialist dele-
gates met after the convention had adjourned and issued a
declaration to the effect that the Socialist Labor party had a
right to view with satisfaction the adoption of a radical plat-
form and the nominations of Weaver and Chambers. However,
should the national committee of the Greenback party under any
pretext go back upon the land resolution, they would still con-
tinue to give their support to the greenback candidates, but
would openly declare that their resolution had been barred from
becoming a part of the platform through parliamentary trick-
QPy 58 "pj^g New Yorker Y olkszeitjing ^^ likewise expressed full
satisfaction with the effected compromise.
66 Chicago Vorbote, Apr. 24, 1880. appeared under this name from March to
57 Labor Review, June, 1880. The June, 1880.
Bulletin of the Social Labor Movement 68 /bid.
69 June 14, 1880.
SOCIALISM AND GREENBACKISM 287
But the delegates and the VolJcszeitung voiced the sentiments
of only one element in the Socialist Labor party. The trade
union faction, which was keeping in the background while ne-
gotiations were carried on with the Greenback party, raised a
cry of protest when the compromise was completed. Paul
Grottkau, in the Vorhote, and Peterson, the editor of the Scan-
dinavian paper, Nye Tid, at once started a passionate agitation
for the repudiation of the compromise. The slump in the so-
cialist vote in the autumn election of 1879 in Chicago had finally
broken the moral prestige that the political faction enjoyed in
that city. Also the disappointment with the outcome in the
spring election of 1880 when, in spite of all predictions, the
vote failed to rise again, helped to fix a well-settled sentiment
against political action. This sentiment was further enforced
by the fact that the only alderman who succeeded in getting re-
elected at the latest election (by a majority of thirty-one votes)
was kept out of his seat by the manipulation of a Democratic
city council.^^
These circumstances prompted the trade union element in the
control of the German and Scandinavian subsections to take a
firm stand against the greenback compromise which was, of
course, supported by the political faction under the leadership
of the American section. The latter, still having a majority on
its side in the general meeting of the section in the city, retali-
ated by expelling Grottkau and Peterson from the party. The
German and Scandinavian subsections, however, rallied strongly
to their support and the factional struggle reached a high pitch.
The American subsection then issued a call against its trade
unionist opponents, and the conflict was justly described as one
between the trade union and political factions of socialism.®^
The protest against the compromise was not confined to Chi-
cago. The section in New York had even preceded Chicago in
60 He gained his seat one year later union faction was concerned, the counting
after a Jury trial. Chicago Yorhote, Nov. out of the socialist candidate merely
13, 1880. George A. Schilling said in his helped to strengthen an aversion to poli-
" History of the Labor Movement in Chi- tics which had existed in a more or less
cago," in Life of Albert R. Parsons (Par- latent form throughout the seventies,
sons, 2d ed.), XXVIII, that this unlawful Schilling had been, until 1882, a member
unseating of the socialist alderman " did of the political faction and naturally re-
more, perhaps, than all the other things fleeted in his recollections his sentiments
combined to destroy the faith of the So- at that time.
cialists in Chicago in the efficiency of the 61 Chicago Yorhote, July 17, 1880.
ballot." However, as far as the trade
288 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
voicing their disapproval of the '^ deal." The delegate from
New York, Bachman, at the Chicago convention had instruc-
tions to vote against it. The opposition in New York, however,
differed substantially from that in Chicago in the manner in
which it arrived at the attitude of non-compromise, if not in the
attitude itself. In New York the anti-compromise faction did
not coincide with the trade union faction. In fact, there, as
will be seen, the trade union faction, together with McDonnell,
had left the party as early as 1877, so that the line was drawn,
not between the trade union and political socialists, but between
the moderates on one side and the revolutionaries on the other.
The moderates were grouped around the New Yorker Volhs-
zeitung and the revolutionaries were for the most part refugees
from the German anti-socialist law of 1878 and those under
their influence. As stated above, the trade union socialists in
Chicago had started with a general lack of enthusiasm for po-
litical action. They consequently felt averse to sacrificing the
purity of their movement in exchange for the chimerical politi-
cal advantage that the greenback compromise would bring.
Added to this, though of lesser importance, was a more or less
wide-spread revolutionary feeling caused mainly by the fraudu-
lent unseating of the only alderman whom they had elected at
the last election, as well as by the still burning memory of the
police outrages of 1877, and by the influence of the few refugees
from Germany. In New York, on the contrary, the opposition
to the greenback compromise was due solely to a revolutionary
sentiment. The revolutionaries there regarded trade unionism
with the same unfavourable eyes that they cast on Van Patten's
practical politics, for they believed that when allowed free rein
both would equally lead the labour movement into the perilous
channel of opportunism, and that both should, therefore, be re-
duced to the rank of mere auxiliaries to the social revolutionary
agitation.
The result of the party referendum on this vexatious question
became known in the middle of August. All sections except
New York, Lawrence, Massachusetts, New Orleans, and the
German and Scandinavian subsections of Chicago, voted as
units in favour of the compromise. The membership vote was
more evenly divided, the gi-eenback candidates were endorsed by
SOCIALISM AND GREENBACKISM 289
608 votes against 396, and the platform by 521 votes against
455.62
The Chicago opponents of the gTeenback compromise were
the first to raise the standard of rebellion. They gained con-
trol ®^ of the local central committee one week after the results
of the referendum had been made known, and started an agita-
tion to elect provisionally a new executive committee and a
board of control.^^ The N'ew York section likewise refused to
bow to the decision of the referendum and demanded a new
party convention.^^ In order to appease the agitation, Van
Patten wrote to the presidential candidate, General Weaver,
inquiring whether he accepted the land plank. A letter came
in from Chambers, the candidate for vice-president, in which
absolute assurance was given that the land plank was heartily
endorsed by Weaver and himself as well as by every green-
backer.®^ But this was hardly sufficient to put a stop to the
rebellion. In fact, the New York section immediately passed
a resolution declaring that the land plank was not socialistic
since it allowed for private property in land, that Van Patten's
letter to Weaver was entirely uncalled for, and that, therefore,
the socialists ought not to vote for the greenback candidates.®^
The outcome of the election was in full accord with the situa-
tion. In view of the " good times " the vote for Weaver and
Chambers fell from the aggregate congressional vote of over
1,000,000 in 1878 to barely 300,000. The Socialist Labor
party was beaten even more badly than the Greenback party.
The compromise agreement had only covered the candidates for
president and vice-president. All other candidates the social-
ists nominated independently. But dissensions broke out also
over these nominations. In Chicago the anti-compromisers
seceded and nominated A. R. Parsons, who had meantime come
over to the trade union side, for assemblyman in the sixth dis-
district, against Christian Meier, the regular socialist candi-
date who was supported by Thomas J. Morgan and George A.
Schilling, the leaders of the political compromisers. Meier
62 Ibid., Aug. 21, 1880. 67 Bulletin of the Social Labor Move-
rs Ibid., Sept. 4, 1880. ment, September, 1880. The bulletin was
9i Ibid., Oct. 16. 1880. resumed in September, 1880, and con-
65 Ibid., Sept. 11, 1880. tinued for three more months.
66 New Yorker Volkazeitung , Aug. 25,
1880.
290 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
received 3,418 votes and Parsons only 495, since many Yorhote
socialists refrained from voting.^ ^ Neither was elected. In
New York there was only one socialist ticket in the field, put
forth by the " political " minority in the section, and it received
the normal vote of approximately 3,000. In St. Louis the anti-
compromise faction, headed by Albert Currlin, seceded from
the section with the result that the vote fell off considerably.^^
The election of 1880 brought the political strength of social-
ism back to the point where it was prior to the political upheaval
of 1877. From this election also dates the development of the
socialist movement towards pure anarchism in the eastern cities,
towards anarchistic trade unionism, or a kind of a ^' syndical-
ism," in Chicago and the cities of the Middle West, and to-
wards the new trade unionism of the American Federation of
Labor.
ANARCHISM AND " SYNDICALISM "
The Socialist Labor party emerged from the campaign of
1880 weakened in membership and divided into hostile factions.
The German, Bohemian, and Scandinavian subsections, and the
radical members in the English-speaking subsection in Chicago,
held a meeting immediately after the election, and resolved to
issue an address to all sections in the country recommending
the election of a new national executive committee. The same
meeting laid down a radical plan for future action in which
the strongest emphasis was laid upon trade unionism. A
permanent union was urged with the workingmen's military
organisation, and political action was favoured only in districts
where the socialists had a fair chance of being elected. "^^ Fol-
lowing this, the central committee of the Chicago section issued,
in conjunction with the Agitation Committee of the Grand
Council of thp Armed Organisations, a call ^^ to " all revolution-
ists and armed workingmen^s organisations in the country,"
pointing out the necessity of " getting ready to offer an armed
resistance to the invasions by the capitalist class and capitalist
legislatures." The English-speaking socialists in Chicago re-
mained loyal to the National Executive Committee. They
68 Chicago Yorhote, Oct. 30, 1880. 70 Chicago Yorhote, Nov. 27, 1880.
6& BvUetin of the Social Labor Move- Ti Ihid., Dec. 4, 1880.
ment, October and November, 1880.
CHICAGO ANARCHISTS 291
held a meeting in the latter part of December/^ at which they
condemned the violent utterances of the address and declared
that political action was the only reliable weapon of the work-
ingmen.
In 'New York, as in Chicago, the movement was divided into
two hostile factions, the revolutionary and the moderate. The
former seceded from the Socialist Labor party and organised
a social revolutionary club with Hasselman, Bachman, and
Justus Schwab as the leading spirits."^ ^ A similar club, con-
sisting mostly of newly arrived German immigrants, who were
for the most part refugees esqaping from the German anti-
socialist law, was organised in Philadelphia.
An attempt to organise the revolutionary socialists on a na-
tional scale was made at a convention which met in Chicago,
October 21, 1881. The original call came from New York,
where the social revolutionary club had meantime affiliated with
the International Working People's Association, the so-called
Black International, having its headquarters in London, which
had been organised in July, 1881, by European anarchists.
Delegates came also from Chicago, New York, Philadelphia,
Boston, St. Louis, Louisville, Omaha, Milwaukee, Kansas City,
Paterson, Jersey City, Jersey City Heights*, Union Hill, and
Hoboken. Justus Schwab of New York, and the four
Chicago delegates, Winnen, Parsons, August Spies,'^'* and
Petersen, were the leading figures at the convention. In the
discussion of the platform of the proposed national organisa-
tion, New York showed itself more radical than Chicago.
Schwab condemned in unqualified terms all participation in
political campaigns, while Spies, Winnen, and Parsons were
72 Ibid., Jan. 8, 1881. cago and after several years set up in the
T3 Hasselman had been expelled from furniture business for himself. His first
the German Social Democratic party for interest in socialism was aroused in 1876,
denouncing parliamentarism. Bachman and the strikes of 1877 made him a con-
had been an advocate of the greenback vinced socialist. From that year until
compromise at the Chicago convention, 1880 he was a member of the Socialist
but had now become more radical. Labor party and ran for office on the
74 August Vincent Theodore Spies, one ticket of that party in 1879 and 1880.
of the Chicago anarchists, was born in Like other Chicago socialists he was a
1855 at Priedewald, Kurhessen, Germany. trade union socialist, laying the greatest
His father was a government forester. emphasis upon trade union action. In
He studied forestry at first, but was 1880 he became business manager of the
obliged to emigrate at the age of seven- Arbeiter Zeitung and the Yorhote, and in
teen, after his father died. Landing in 1881, editor. He carefully studied Marx,
New York, he began to learn the trade Proudhon, Buckle, and Morgan,
of upholsterer. In 1872 he went to Chi-
292 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
still in favour of the use of the ballot for agitational purposes.
Schwab's attitude prevailed at the convention and the political
plank vi^as rejected. On the other hand, with regard to the
trade union question, the Chicago delegates defeated Schwab,
who felt lukewarm toward trade unions. The convention
strongly recommended the organisation of trade unions upon
progressive principles and promised active support to such
trade unions as were already in existence. The convention
further endorsed the London Congress of the International
Working People's Association, and declared itself in favour
of societies which '' stand ready to render armed resistance to
encroachments upon the rights of the workingmen." ^^ The new
national organisation was christened the Kevolutionary Socialist
party, and was intended to be a loose federation of autonomous
groups with an information bureau located in Chicago to serve
as the connecting link. The latter was to have a corresponding
secretary for each language, with expenses covered by volun-
tary contributions from the groups. Each constituent group
was left absolute master over its own activities, except that it
was not supposed to come into conflict with the general pro-
gramme and the resolutions of the federation.
Before the referendum vote on the decisions of the convention
had been completed, the Chicago group, as yet not entirely satis-
fied with the voting down of the political plank, decided to try
political action once more, and took part in the municipal cam-
paign of the spring of 1882. However, it went into the elec-
tion with a strictly revolutionary platform and refused to co-
operate with the regular section of the Socialist Labor party,
which was now dominated by English-speaking people and
which remained loyal to the National Executive Committee.
The revolutionaries nominated George A. Schilling, who had
changed factions since the election of 1880, as candidate for
mayor. Neither of the socialist tickets received an appreciable
number of votes, since greater efforts were made on both sides
to defeat the rival candidates than to win voters from older
parties.
The campaign proved fatal to the section of the Socialist
Labor party, but the effect upon the revolutionary socialists
T5 Chicago Yorhote, Oct. 29, 1881.
CHICAGO ANARCHISTS 293
was merely to destroy their last vestige of faith even in the agi-
tational usefulness of political campaigns. Already in Feb-
ruary, 1882, during the progress of the political campaign they
had ratified the decisions of the October convention and defi-
nitely reorganised upon the principle of autonomous groups.
Socialists in any part of the city might organise an unlimited
number of groups with not less than ten members each, to be
united by a central committee. Representation was likewise
to be granted to radical trade unions. The decisions of the
central committee were to be valid only when not objected to
by any group at its first succeeding meeting. The prerogatives
of the central committee were further limited by a maximum
expenditure of $20 for any one object. Larger expenditures
could be incurred only when authorised by a referendum vote
of the groups. Each member paid 10 cents per month, of which
only one-tenth went to the central committee."^^ The national
information bureau, which the Chicago organisation was au-
thorised by the convention to establish, was not organised until
April, 1883, indicating the lack of cohesion among the revolu-
tionary groups of the country. Indeed, the New York group,
notwithstanding the fact that it had taken the lead in calling
the convention of 1881, now hesitated to recognise the National
Information Bureau. It became apparent therefore, that an-
other national convention was required in order that the revo-
lutionary movement in the country might become unified. A
general vote of the groups designated such a convention to meet
in Pittsburgh on October 19, 1883.
The delegates from Chicago at the Pittsburgh convention,
Parsons, Spies, Meng, and Rau, represented the trade union
wing of the social revolutionary movement in the country.
Their ideas were shared in toto by the delegates from St. Louis,
Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Omaha, and from the West
in general. The social revolutionists from the East had now
shown themselves as pure anarchists and were represented by Jo-
hann Most,^*^ the only delegate from New York, who counted
76 Ihid., Feb. 10, 1883. for revolutionary propaganda and sen-
77 Johann Most was born in Augsburg, tenced to five years' imprisonment, but
Germany, in 1846. After a cheerless was released in 1871, after a general po-
childhood and boyhood he left Germany litical amnesty. He was, however, ex-
in 1864, and, in 1868, he settled in Vi- pelled from Austria soon after his release
enna. Two years later he was arrested and, in June, 1871, we find him editing a
294 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
among his followers the delegates from Brooklyn, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and other cities in the East.
Most's philosophy was decisively anarchistic. His ideal so-
ciety was an agglomeration of loosely federated autonomous
groups of producers. Each group followed one trade and
owned its means of production. The groups directly inter-
changed products with the aid of paper money. Each group
had the power to establish for itself either absolute communism
or a system of wages for work done. No superior authority ex-
isted over the groups, the state and the church having been
abolished. In the matter of tactics. Most was an ardent be-
liever in the " propaganda by deed," that is, acts of violence
against capitalists and officers of state and church. He denied
that there could be even a temporary truce between anarchism
and capitalism. His programme was, briefly, the execution of
reactionaries and the confiscation of all capital by the people.
Most did not believe in trade union action, as he did not be-
lieve in political action, but, while he opposed the latter with
all the passion of his fiery nature, he was willing to make con-
cessions regarding the former. His opposition to trade union
action cost him the adherence of the revolutionary groups cen-
tering in Chicago, but, on the other hand, the social revolution-
ists in New York and other eastern cities became willing con-
verts to his brand of anarchism, obviously for the reason that
they had never before placed any emphasis upon economic or-
ganisation.
The work accomplished by the Pittsburgh congress was a
compromise between the followers of Most and the Chicago fac-
tion. A resolution proposed by Spies was passed, which re-
paper in Chemnitz, Germany. He then converted to anarchism in the same year,
belonged to the most radical wing of the owing to the influence of a friend, an old
Eisenacher (Marxian) party. During Bakuninist, and was formally expelled
1873, he again spent eight months in jail, from the German Social Democratic party
and having gained his freedom he was at the party convention of 1880. In
elected to the Reichstag. He was arrested March, 1881, when Alexander II of Rus-
also in 1877 and again in 1878, this time sia was assassinated, he wrote an editorial
in connection with the attempt made upon praising the deed, for which he was sen-
the life of William I, Upon his release he tenced in London to a sixteen months'
was compelled to leave Germany, and in term in jail. He was released in October,
December, 1878, he went to London, 1882, and arrived in New York on De-
where he began publishing a weekly called cember 12. The revolutionary faction of
Die Freiheit. His views were so extreme the socialists received him with open arms,
and violent that Liebknecht felt obliged and, after an agitational tour over the
to repudiate Die Freiheit on behalf of the country, he settled down in New York to
Social Democratic party. Mo»t became renew the publication of Die Freiheit.
REVOLUTIONARY ANARCHISTS 295
ferred to trade unions fighting for the abolition of the wage sys-
tem as the foundation of the future society. On the other hand,
the manifesto which the congress issued To the Worhingmen of
America, was framed entirely in the spirit of Most's philosophy
and contained no mention of trade union action. The mani-
festo, known as the Pittsburgh Mounifesto of the International
Working People's Association, started with a passionate review,
very largely borrowed from the Communist Manifesto, of the
miserable condition of the workers under capitalism. It con-
demned the state, the church, and even the present day-school
system as barriers to their emancipation, affirming that these
institutions would fall with the overthrow of capitalism. The
struggle for reforms is futile:
" We could show by scores of illustrations that all attempts in the
past to reform this monstrous system by peaceable means, such as
the ballot, have been futile, and all such efforts in the future must
necessarily be so. . . . The political institutions of our time are
the agencies of the propertied class; their mission is the upholding
of the privileges of their masters; any reform in your own behalf
would curtail these privileges. . . . That they will not resign these
privileges voluntarily we know. . . . Since we must then rely upon
the kindness of our masters for whatever redress we have, and know-
ing that from them no good may be expected, there remains but one
recourse — FORCE ! . . .
" By force have our ancestors liberated themselves from political
oppression, by force their children will have to liberate themselves
from economic bondage. 'It is, therefore, your right, it is your
duty,' says Jefferson — ' to arms ! '
" What we would achieve is, therefore, plainly and simply :
" First : — Destruction of the existing class rule, by all means, i.e.,
by energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international action.
" Second : — Establishment of a free society based upon co-oper-
ative organisation of production.
" Third : — Free exchange of equivalent products by and between
the productive organizations without commerce and profit-mon-
gery.
" Fourth : — Organisation of education on a secular, scientific and
equal basis for both sexes.
" Fifth : — Equal rights for all without distinction of sex or race.
" Sixth : — Regulation of all public affairs by free contracts be-
tween the autonomous (independent) communes and associations,
resting on a f ederalistic basis." '^*
78 The Alarm, Oct. 4, 1884.
296 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The Pittsburgh manifesto became the most important land-
mark in the history of American anarchism, for, long after the
organisation perfected at Pittsburgh had ceased to exist, it con-
tinued to be generally accepted by anarchists as the clearest
statement of their creed.
The national federation established at Pittsburgh under the
name of the International Working People's Association, or
Black International, for short, became for a time, particularly
after the Haymarket catastrophe, a veritable " bugaboo " of
the terrified public. It took for its basis the autonomous group
with a national information bureau as the connecting link.
The Chicago pattern of local organisation was fully indorsed.
Chicago was also authorised to elect the Information Bureau,
which it did three weeks afterwards, naming August Spies as
the English secretary, and Paul Grottkau, William Medon, and
J. Micalonda as the German, French, and Bohemian secretaries
respectively. The movement radiating from New York City,
where Johann Most lived, was generally considered to express
the official doctrines of the Black International. Chicago, how-
ever, was the largest centre of the Black International, and also
the place where, as pointed out above, the blending of anarch-
ism and trade unionism produced a kind of a ^^ syndicalism ''
which was not dissimilar from the French '^ syndicalism " of
to-day. Its principles can best be seen in its representatives,
August Spies and Albert R. Parsons, who, from 1883 to 1886,
propagated in the Vorhote and The Alarm'^^ the views which
they had reached in 1883 of ideal society, trade union action
(or direct action), political action, and the use of violence in
strikes. Their ideal of future society was voluntary associa-
tion. " No constitutions, laws or regulations are necessary to
unite the people. Nor were unions ever produced by such
things, they are brought in after the union is effected to pre-
79 The first issue of The Alarm appeared and Parsons after the Pittsburgh con-
on Oct. 4, 1884. Prior to 1884 a very gress, when they changed from coUectivis-
prominent position in the Chicago move- tic socialism into communistic anarchism,
ment was occupied by Paul Grottkau, an After a brief struggle he left for Milwau-
extremely radical refugee from the Ger- kee, where he became editor of a German
man anti-socialist law. He was an influ- paper, and managed in May, 1886, to be-
ential speaker at meetings and a promi- come arrested as one of the authors of the
nent contributor to the Arheiter-Zeitung , notorious Bay View riot. He was de-
where he advocated abstention from poll- clared guilty by the jury, but was let oflf
tics and energetic trade union action. by the judge with a mere nominal penalty.
However, he parted company with Spies
SYNDICALISM 297
vent disuniting, or to operate the union for other purposes.
Do away with all contrivances for perpetuating unions and men
will unite more readily and enthusiastically and accomplish
infinitely more. We believe all rules and regulations only in-
terfere with natural law to the disadvantage of mankind. We
do not believe in State Socialism.'^ ^^
What, however, made Spies' and Parson's anarchistic phi-
losophy distinctly " syndicalistic " was their theory of the im-
portance of trade unions. " The International recognises in
the trade union the embryonic group of the future ' free so-
ciety.' Every Trade Union is, nolens volens, an autonomous
commune in process of incubation. The Trades Union is a
necessity of capitalistic production, and will yet take its place
by superseding it under the system of universal free co-opera-
tion. N^o, friends, it is not the unions but the methods which
some of them employ with which the International finds fault,
and as indifferently as it may be considered by some, the de-
velopment of capitalism is hastening the day when all Trades
Unions and Anarchists will of necessity become one and the
same." ^^
A model trade union, in accordance with the ^^ Chicago Idea "
reached in 1883, was the Metal Workers' Federation Union of
America, which was organised in 1885. It said in its Declara-
tion of Principles as follows : " The Emancipation of Labor
cannot be brought about whether by the regulation of the hours
of labor or by the schedule of wages. The demands and strug-
gles for higher wages or shorter hours, if granted, would only
better the conditions of the wage-workers for a short time." The
form of organisation of most of the trade unions as organised
to-day is defective because they " are controlled by a few
persons called an executive committee, who, however honest,
are unable to see clearly, much less to instruct others as to the
true position of the laboring masses." But, instead of the
opportunism of the trade unions, the maxim should be adopted
by the labour movement that " the entire abolition of the pres-
ent system of society can alone emancipate the workers ; being
replaced by a new system, based upon co-operative organisation
80 The Alarm, Nov. 22, 1884. Pre- Spies in the Chicago Vorbote, Mar. 25,
cisely the same view was expressed by 1885.
81 The Alarm, April 4, 1885.
298 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
of production in a free society." To this end the trade union
should be so organised that " every member should be enabled
to do his part in the work of progress ; the management not cen-
tralising in the few, but resting with the whole body of workers."
And further, " our organisation should be a school to educate
its members for the new condition of society, when the workers
will regulate their own aifairs without any interference by the
few, who are always more capable to betray their cause." At
the same time " our organisation aims to secure for its members
such remunerations as will enable them to live as human beings
should live." But under no consideration should they resort
to politics. ^' Since the emancipation of the productive classes
must come by their own efforts, it is unwise to meddle in pres-
ent politics." On the other hand, " all direct struggles of the
laboring masses have our fullest sympathy." ^^
Thus we find practically all the earmarks of present day
syndicalism in this call of the metal workers' union issued in
1885 ; a craving for a ^^ free society " of which the trade union
is to be the formative cell, a distrust of centralised authority and
of leadership, a condemnation of political action, and an advo-
cacy of direct action instead. Add to this the idea of the
" general strike," which at that time had not yet been theoreti-
cally developed, and of " sabotage," ^^ and the Declaration of
Principles might pass for a syndicalist programme of the
twentieth century.
Nevertheless, although " syndicalism " as a philosophy had
been reached already in 1883, a " syndicalist " movement was
still wanting. This came with the general labour upheaval
during 1884-1887.8*
Entirely distinct from the Black International or the Inter-
national Working People's Association was the Eed Interna-
tional or the " International Workingmen's Association," a
secret organisation (established by Burnette G. Haskell, of San
Francisco, in 1881, and composed mostly of native Americans.
It derived its name ^^ Red " from the red cards which were
82 T/ie A lorm, June 27, 1885. In Ohi- 83 See Pouget, Le Sabotage; Estey,
cago there was an "armed sectioA of the Revolutionary Syndicalism; Levine, Labor
Metal Workers' Union," with the object Movement in France; and Brooks, Am^ri-
to "prepare for the revolution by learn- can Syndicalism; the I. W. W.
ing the use of arms." Chicago Vorbote, 84 See below, II, 384 et aeq.
June 28, 1885.
SYNDICALISM 299
issued to members and also because it advocated socialism in-
stead of anarchism. However^ like the Black International, it
declared allegiance to the anarchistic International which was
re-established at the London Congress in 1881 as the continua-
tion of the old International Workingmen's Association.
The form of organisation was the so-called " closed group "
system. This meant that each member of an original group of
nine organised an additional group of nine; next, that each
member of the new group in his turn organised a group of nine,
and so forth, so that a member could have knowledge of the
personnel of only two groups : the one to which he belonged him-
self and that which he himself had organised. The officers of a
division, however, kept a record of all the members in the
division. There were altogether two divisions: the Pacific
Coast Division presided over by Haskell and the Rocky Moun-
tain Division established by Joseph R. Buchanan, of Denver,
in 1883. Each division was entirely autonomous so that, to
this extent, the International conformed to the anarchistic prin-
ciple of organisation. ®®
Haskell was of native parentage, a man with considerable
means, and a lawyer. However, he never practised his pro-
fession. In January, 1882, he founded the San Francisco
Truth, as a weekly organ of the anti-Chinese '^ League of De-
liverance,'^ and, owing to his great though erratic ability, it
immediately became an influential sheet on the coast. Haskell
viewed the anti-Chinese issue merely as a preliminary step to a
radical overhauling of society, but refused to class himself with
any of the existing schools, preferring to keep independent and
to work towards the unification of all. While he kept the
columns of his paper open alike to members of the Socialist
Labor party, to greenbackers, to Black Internationalists, and
to others, his ovm philosophy, as far as he may be said to have
had a clearly defined philosophy, was state socialism combined
with an opposition to either political action or violence as poli-
cies for the present. Instead, he advocated a long campaign
of education in preparation for the coming social revolution.
In this spirit were framed the programme and the Declaration
of the Rights of Man.^^
86 Buchanan, The Story of a Labor A.gi- *6 Truth, Sept. 15, 1883.
toitor, 254r-289.
300 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Buchanan, being absorbed as he was in his work for the
Knights of Labor,^'^ took a mere academic interest in the cause
of the International, believing that for the present it should be
confined to a few choice spirits rather than widely propagated
among the working people. The number of such choice spirits,
although including some of the prominent labour leaders of the
country, hardly ever exceeded a thousand. Still it is true
that the somewhat vague aspiration towards a better society,
which the International suggests, had its roots directly in the
contemporaneous labour movement and sprang from the convic-
tion shared by many leaders of the time, that, though the
labouring people might at times appear successful in their
struggle, they were nevertheless incapable of securing lasting
results.^*
Alongside the two Internationals, the Socialist Labor party
kept up an inconspicuous existence. After 1880, owing to the
inroads made by anarchism, it had dwindled to a corporal's
guard. It reached the lowest point in 1883, when there were
only 30 sections with a total membership of about 1,500. A
slight revival began in 1884. During this year 21 new sec-
tions were organised in the East and Middle West. In 1885
61 sections already existed. The centre of the movement was
New York, with the daily New Yorker Volhszeitwig edited by
Alexander Jonas, and with Sergius Schevitsch, a Kussian of
noble birth, formerly in the diplomatic service of his country,
and also for a time editor of the paper. The Socialist Labor
party took no part in political campaigns until the political up-
heaval in New York in 1886.
87 See below, II, 367 et seq. mated with the Socialist Labor party in
88 The Red International reached its 1887.
highest point in 1886 and became amalga-
CHAPTER VII
THE NEW TRADE UNIONISM, 1878-1884
From Socialism to Pure and Simple Trade Unionism. Two lines of trade
union action, 302. Plan for the organisation of the unskilled: The Inter-
national Labor Union, 302. " Internationalism " and " Stewardism," 302.
Trade unionism and eight-hour legislative action, 303. Programme of
the International Labor Union, 303. Success among textile workers, 304.
The first convention, 305. Steps towards an international trade union or-
ganisation, 305. Failure of the International Labor Union, 306. Inter-
national Cigar Makers' Union — the new model for the organisation of the
skilled, 306. Strasser and Gompers, 307. Crystallisation of the pure and
simple trade imion philosophy, 308. Railroad brotherhoods, 309.
First Successes. The trades assemblies and their functions, economic,
political, and legislative, 310. Building trades' councils — the first move
towards industrialism, 312. Federations of the water-front trades in the
South, 312. The Negro, 312. Formation of new national trade unions,
313. Their increase in membership, 1879-1883, 313. Their control over
locals, 314. Their benefit features, 314. Their attitude towards legal
incorporation, 314. Predominance of the foreign-speaking element in the
trade unions, 315. The charge that the foreigners in the trade unions de-
prive the American boy of his opportunity in industry, 315. Strikes in
1880 and 1881, 316. Iron workers' strike in 1882, 316. The boycott, 316.
New York Tribune boycott, 317.
Towards Federation. Attempts towards national federation since 1876,
318. Part played by the Knights of Labor in the last and successful
attempt, 318. The Terre Haute conference, 318. Call for a convention,
320. Trade unions in the eighties and trade unions to-day, 320. The Pitts-
burgh convention of 1881, 321. The cause of the large representation
of the Knights of Labor, 321. Formation of the Federation of Organised
Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada, 322. Attitude
towards organising the unskilled, 323. Subordination of the city trades'
assembly to the national trade union, 323. Legislative committee and the
legislative programme, 324. The incorporation plank, 325. Shift from the
co-operation argument to the one of trade agreements on the question of
incorporation, 326. Second convention of the Federation, 326. Absence
of the Knights of Labor and of the iron and steel workers, 326. Lack of
interest in the Federation on the part of the trade unions, 327. The
convention of 1883, 328. The first signs of friction with the Knights of
Labor, 329. Attitude towards a protective tariff, 329. Miscellaneous reso-
lutions, 330. Failure of the Federation as an organisation for obtaining
legislation, 331.
The former members of the International in ^NTew York and
vicinity, unlike their colleagues in Chicago, did not remain
301
302 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
with the Workingmen's party after the Newark convention, at
which, as we have seen,^ the programme had been changed to
political action and the name to Socialist Labor party. There-
after, they kept entirely aloof from the socialist movement, but
devoted themselves exclusively to the economic organisation of
labour. Two distinct lines of effort resulted from this. One
group under McDonnell and Sorge entered into an alliance with
the eight-hour advocates under Steward, McNeill, and Gunton ^
in an attempt to organise the unskilled into the International
Labor Union. Another group headed by Adolph Strasser
of the cigar makers' union, and later joined by P. J. McGuire,
proceeded to regenerate and strengthen the trade unions of the
skilled.
The International Labor Union was launched in the be-
ginning of 1878, when McDonnell and McNeill organised a
provisional central committee with members in eighteen differ-
ent States, including A. R. Parsons and George Schilling, of
Chicago ; Otto Weydemeyer, of Pittsburgh ; F. A. Sorge, of
Hoboken; George Gunton and Ira Steward, of Massachusetts.
The central committee acted through an executive board of
seven, which included J. P. McDonnell, Carl Speyer, and
George E. McNeill, the latter being president.
As is shown by the personnel of the officers, the new organisa-
tion represented the coming together of the two class-conscious
programmes of the International and Steward's Eight-Hour
League. Both had a socialist system of society for the final
aim. Put the socialism of Steward was not the collectivism of
the International, but was, instead, a system of voluntary co-
operation between employers and employes under which profit
would ultimately be absorbed by wages. They differed in
method of attainment even more than they did in the final aim.
The International believed, as we have seen, in political action
by a labour party that should grow out from, and be controlled
1 See above, II, 277 et seq. ings. In 1890 Gunton became president
2 George Gunton, textile -worker, econo- of the Institute of Social Economics and
mist, and editor, was born in Cambridge- editor of the Social Economiat, the name
shire, England, in 1847. He emigrated of which was changed in 1896 to Ounton't
to the United States in 1874, and for some Mapazine. Gunton acted as an organiser
time worked in factories in Massachusetts. of the International Labor Union in Pall
Like McNeill, he was closely associated River during 1878-1880. He subse-
with Ira Steward and his Wealth and quently severed connections with the la-
Progress, which appeared in 1887, was hour movement and became one of the
based upon Steward's unpublished writ- best-known defenders of the trusts.
INTERNATIONAL LABOR UNION 303
by, the trade unions. It laid peculiar stress, therefore, upon
the need for the immediate organisation of trade unions.
Steward's eight-hour philosophy, held, on the contrary, neither
to political action by a labour party nor to trade union action,
but based the hopes for its millennium upon a general eight-hour
law, which would have the effect of increasing the wants of the
wage-earner and, therefore, his wages, until the latter had com-
pletely absorbed the employers' profits. In other words, the
difference in methods preached by the two schools consisted in
the fact that the International advocated for the present trade
union action only, and, ultimately, a labour party, while the
eight-hour school advocated as both an immediate and an ulti-
mate programme a vigorous agitation in favour of a general
eight-hour law, which politicians of all parties would not dare
to disobey.
The International Labor Union accepted from Steward the
theory of wages and from the International the idea of trade
unionism. The platform was couched in the well-known Stew-
ard phraseology in the parts dealing with principles and de-
mands :
*' The wage system is a despotism under which the wage-worker is
forced to sell his labor at such price and under such conditions as
the employer of labor shall dictate. . . . That as the wealth of the
world is distributed through the wage system, its better distribution
must come through higher wages and better opportunities, until
wages shall represent the earnings and not the necessities of labor ;
thus melting profit upon labor out of existence, and making co-
operation, or self-employed labour, the natural and logical step from
wages slavery to free labor. ... The first step towards the emanci-
pation of labor is a reduction of the hours of labor; that the
added leisure produced by a reduction of the hours of labor will
operate upon the natural causes that affect the habits and customs
of the p6ople, enlarging wants, stimulating ambition, decreasing idle-
ness, and increasing wages. . . .
" We, therefore, severally agree to form ourselves into a Commit-
tee, known as the Provisional Central Committee of the Interna-
tional Labor Union, whose objects shall be to secure the following
measures: The reduction of the hours of labour; higher wages;
factory, mine and workshop inspection; abolition of the contract
convict labor and truck systems; employers to be held responsible
for accidents by neglected machinery; prohibition of child labor;
the establishment of Labor Bureaus; labor propaganda by means
304 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
of a labor press, labor lectures, the employment of a general or-
ganiser, and the final abolition of the wage system. . . ."
However, with respect to practical methods, Steward's legis-
lative panacea completely gave way to the trade union idea of
McDonnell and Sorge. The platform continues:
" The methods by which we propose to secure these measures are :
" 1st. The formation of an Amalgamated Union of labourers so
that members of any calling can combine under a central head, and
form a part of the Amalgamated Trades Unions.
" 2nd. The establishment of a general fund for benefit and pro-
tective purposes.
" 3rd. The organisation of all workingmen in their Trade Unions,
and the creation of such Unions where none exist.
"4th. The National and International Amalgamation of all
Labor Unions." ^
Notwithstanding the general favour of the labour press * for
the plan of the International Labor Union, the organisation
grew slowly at first. In July, 1878, the executive committee
informed the Hoboken branch, known as Branch 3, that the
total membership was only about 700.^ But, later in the year
when the textile mill operatives were organised by McDonnell
in Paterson and by M-cNeill and Gunton in Fall River, the
organisation began to grow so that in 1878 McNeill claimed a
membership of nearly 8,000.^ McDonnell came warmly to
the support of a strike against a reduction in wages in a large
cotton mill in Paterson, New Jersey, which began in June,
1878, and lasted over eight months. It was in connection with
this strike that he was arrested and sent to jail on account of an
article on the strike printed in his Labor Standard, which he
had transferred to Paterson a few months before.''
That the International Labor Union became practically a
mere union in the textile industry is shown by the attendance
3 Labor Standard, Oct. 12, 1878. 5 " Report " of the meeting for July 10,
4 The Pittsburgh National Labor Trib- 1878, in ProtokoU Buck of Section 1 (Ho-
une, Mar. 16, 1878, said: "The con- bokon) of the International — later
summation of this comprehensive plan will Branch 3 of the International Labor
be pregnant with results of the most last- Union.
ing importance to the wage-workers in 6 Depression in Labor and Business,
America, particularly, and generally nouse Miscellaneous Document, 45 Cong.,
throughout the civilised world of manu- 3 sess., No. 29, p. 115.
facturers. It is a plan that there is every 7 Sec above, II, 222, note,
reason to believe is eminently practi-
cal. . . ."
INTERNATIONAL LABOR UNION 305
at the first convention held in Paterson, December 28, 1878,
where the overwhelming majority were textile workers from
Fall River and Paterson.
Nevertheless the object of the union was broader. President
McNeill reported to the committee that " the labor movement
waits for the union of its leaders upon the single issue of the
reduction of the hours of labor," and " that the labor move-
ment has silently permeated the entire fabric of society; not
only are the skilled mechanics concentrating their numbers but
the unskilled, the manual labourers who heretofore have been
without hope and without organisation, are fast learning from
the experience of the past the necessity of combination. The
International Labor Union presents a plan by which the unor-
ganised masses and local unions can become affiliated." The
convention fully accepted these views. It decided against any
" political alliance or action," in favour ^^ of reduction of the
hours of labor and the establishment of National and State
Bureaus of Statistics of Labor," and in favour of establishing
a fund for the relief of the unemployed. The latter would be
an " incentive to members of the cotton industries of New Eng-
land to join the organisation " and would assist the work of
propaganda by interesting " the wage-workers now unemployed."
Finally, " arrangements were perfected for the admission of
local unions and the organisation of the unskilled laborers." ^
Strasser, the president of the cigar makers' union, attended
as a visitor, advising the International Labor Union to " take
steps to organise in their ranks the cotton operatives of New
England and other districts with the cotton trade in England."
Enlarging the scope of his advice, the convention resolved to
" co-operate with Trades Unions of the United States in con-
vening a congress of the Trade Organisations for the purpose of
bringing about the National and International Amalgamation
of the Trades Unions." The resolutions also contained the
following : " That the International Labor Union of America
be represented at the next Trades Congress of England, and
we do hereby express to the Wage-workers of Great Britain our
determination to stand by them in their hour of distress, and
we call upon them to co-operate with us and with the National
8 Labor Standard, Jan, 4, 1879,
306 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
and International Trade Unions of this country in convening
an International Labor Congress of the World." ^
McDonnell was the unanimous choice for delegate to Eng-
land, but, like the other portions of the comprehensive pro-
gramme of action worked out by the convention, his trip never
materialised. The union became involved in a series of strikes
in the textile industry, and, when they failed, a rapid decline
set in, so that by February, 1880, the membership fell off to
1400 or 1500,^^ and one year later it shrank to the single branch
in Hoboken where Sorge resided. The latter reorganised in
1883 as the International Labor Union of Hoboken, '^ to unite
the members of the old International Workingmen's Associa-
tion and of the International Labor Union, for the purpose of
aiding the trade unions of New Jersey in attaining favourable
labour laws." ^^ In 1887, when F. A. Sorge moved to Eoches-
ter. New York, it dissolved.
From the standpoint of labour organisation the significance
of the International Labor Union lies in the fact that it was
the first deliberately planned effort in this country to organise
on a comprehensive scale the unskilled wage-earners. Seven
or eight years later, the Order of the Knights of Labor suc-
ceeded incidentally for a time on a grand scale in such an under-
taking, but the Order was favoured by a high tide of the labour
movement and by the greatly exaggerated notion of its strength
held by the masses of working people.
At the time when McDonnell was vainly attempting to build
up an organisation of the unskilled, Strasser and Samuel
Gompers succeeded in creating, in the reorganised International
Cigar Makers' Union, a model for the trade unions of the
skilled. Strasser had been elected president of the union in
1877, in the midst of the great strike in New York against the
tenement house system. ^^
The president of No. 144 of New York was at the time
Samuel Gompers, a young man of twenty-seven, who was bom
in England and had come to America in 1863. In his en-
deavour to build up a model for the " new " unionism and in
his almost uninterrupted headship of that movement for over
« Ibid. 11 Protokoll Buck of Section 1.
10 Copybook. 454. 12 See above, II, 177, 178.
THE CIGAR MAKERS 807
thirty years is indicated Gompers' truly representative char-
acter. Born of Dutch- Jewish parents in England in 1850, he
typifies the cosmopolitan origins of American unionism. His
early contact in the union of his trade with men like Strasser
upon whom the ideas of Marx and the International Working-
men's Association had left an indelible stamp, gave him that
grounding both in idealism and class consciousness which has
produced many strong leaders of American unions and saved
them from defection to other interests. Aggressive and uncom-
promising in a perpetual fight for the strongest possible posi-
tion and power of trade unions, but always strong for collective
agreements with the opposing employers, he displays the busi-
ness tactics of organised labour. At the head of an organisa-
tion which denies itself power over its constituent unions, he
has brought and held together the most widely divergent and
often antagonistic unions, while permitting each to develop and
even to change its character to fit the changing industrial con-
ditions.
The dismal failure of the strike against the tenement house
system had brought home to Strasser and Gompers the weak-
ness of the plan of organisation of their union, as well as that
of American trade unions in general. ^^ They consequently re-
solved to rebuild their union upon the pattern of the British
unions, although they firmly intended that it should remain a
militant organisation. The change involved, first, complete
authority over the local unions in the hands of the international
ofiicers ; second, an increase in the membership dues for the pur-
pose of building up a large fund ; and, third, the adoption of a
far-reaching benefit system in order to assure stability to the
organisation. This was accomplished at the convention held in
August, 1879. This convention simultaneously adopted the
British idea of the " equalisation of funds," which gave the in-
ternational officers the power to order a well-to-do local union to
transfer a portion of its funds to another local union in financial
straits.^* With various modifications of the feature of " equal-
isation of funds," the system of government in the Cigar
13 See testimony by Gompers before the 14 Cigar-Makers' Official Journal (New
Industrial Commission at Washington, D. York). Sept. 15. 1879.
C, in Industrial Commission, Report,
1901, VII, 599.
308 HISTOEY OF LABOUK IN THE UNITED STATES
Makers' International Union was later used as a model by the
other national and international trade unions. "^
After the convention of 1879, the cigar makers' union in-
creased its membership from 2,729 in 1879 to 4,440 in 1880
and 14,604 in 1881. Other unions grew at the same time, but
at a much slower pace. The membership of the Typographical
Union was 5,968 in 1879, 6,520 in 1880, and 7,931 in 1881;
and the bricklayers' national union was 375 in 1879, 1,558 in
1880, and about the same in 1881. These figures indicate that
the Cigar Makers' International Union was in a position sooner
than other unions to take advantage of the turning industrial
tide.
As Strasser, McDonnell, and McGuire ^'^ grew ever more
deeply absorbed in the practical problems of the everyday strug-
gle of the wage-earners for better conditions of employment, the
socialistic portion of their original philosophy kept receding
farther and farther into the background until they arrived at
pure trade unionism. But their trade unionism differed vastly
from that of Sylvis, Cameron, and Trevellick. They did not
regard, like the trade union leaders of the sixties, combination
into trade unions as a mere stepping stone to self-employment.
Their grounding in the theory of class-conscious socialism acted
as an inseparable barrier against middle-class philosophies, such
as greenbackism and co-operation. At the same time their for-
eign birth and upbringing kept them from contact with the
life of the great American middle class, the farmers and the
small employers, the class which kept alive the philosophy of
self-employment and voluntary co-operation.
The philosophy which these new leaders developed might be
termed a philosophy of pure wage-consciousness. It signified
a labour movement reduced to an opportunistic basis, accepting
the existence of capitalism and having for its object the enlarg-
ing of the bargaining power of the wage-earner in the sale of
his labour. It implied an attitude of aloofness from all those
movements which aspire to replace the wage system by co-opera-
tion, whether voluntary or subsidised by government, whether
greenbackism, socialism, or anarchism.
IB Peter J. McGulre was the last im- organised the Brotherhood of Carpenters
portant accession of a socialist leader of and Joiners in 1881, and was its general
the seventies to pure trade unionism. He secretary for a quarter of a century.
THE CIGAR MAKERS 309
Perhaps the most concise definition of this philosophy is to
be found in Strasser's testimony before the Senate Committee
on Education and Labor, in 1883 : ^*^
" Q. You are seeking to improve home matters first?
" A. Yes, sir, I look first to the trade I represent ; I look first to
cigars, to the interests of men who employ me to represent their
interest.
" Chairman : I was only asking you in regard to your ultimate
ends.
" Witness : We have no ultimate ends. We are going on from
day to day. We are fighting only for immediate objects — objects
that can be realised in a few years.
" By Mr. Call : Q. You want something better to eat and to wear,
and better houses to live in ?
" A. Yes, we want to dress better and to live better, and become
better citizens generally.
" The Chairman : I see that you are a little sensitive lest it
should be thought that you are a mere theoriser. I do not look upon
you in that light at all.
" The Witness : Well, we say in our constitution that we are
opposed to theorists, and I have to represent the organisation here.
We are all practical men.''
With the revival of business in 1879, this conception of
militant but " pure and simple " trade unionism was accepted
alike by the new national trade unions and by those which sur-
vived the depression. It was transmitted to the American
Federation of Labor in 1881 at the time when it was formed
under the name of Federation of Organised Trades and Labor
Unions of the United States and Canada.
There were, however, several national labour organisations
which came neither under the influence of these ideas nor of the
new leaders. These were the three organisations of railway
men which existed in 1879, the engineers, the firemen and the
conductors, and to which was added a fourth, the brakemen's
organisation of 1883. These organisations, more than any
other American trade union, resembled the British unions
formed in the fifties which in later years abandoned militancy
16 Senate Committee on Education and the proposed political programme of the
Labor, Report, 1885, I, 460. Strasser Federation (Proceedings, 40,). However,
showed a flicker of his old socialism at his entire activity since 1877 bears out
the convention of the American Federa- that it was but a last flicker of an old,
tion of Labor in 1894 when he supported almost extinct fire,
the adoption of the famous plank 10 of
310 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
in support of a highly developed heneficiary policy. The high
development of the beneficiary feature in the American railway
unions was natural, since insurance companies ordinarily re-
fuse to insure the lives of men who are engaged in railroad train
service. During the seventies they were purely beneficiary
organisations, although it was not until the nineties that in-
surance was made compulsory upon all members. They also
retained the same characteristics through a part of the eighties.
For this reason they kept aloof from the militant trade unions
and did not affiliate with the Federation. The same policy of
aloofness was continued also after they began to make wage de-
mands, owing to their good strategic position in the railroad in-
dustry. To affiliate with the Federation would therefore have
meant the forming of an entangling alliance with weak organis-
ations which still had before them an uphill fight for recogni-
tion.
FIRST SUCCESSES
The first symptom of the upward trend in the labour move-
ment was the rapid multiplication of the trades councils, vari-
ously known as trades councils, amalgamated trade and labour
unions, trades assemblies, and the like. Practically all of
these came into existence after 1879, since hardly any of the
trades assemblies of the sixties had survived the depression.
August Sartorius von Waltershausen, a contemporary observer,
enumerated the following cities with a trades assembly during
this period: 'New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, San
Francisco, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington, Pittsburgh,
Boston, Cheyenne, Denver, Newark, Leadville, New Haven,
Indianapolis, St. Joseph, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Columbus,
(Ohio), Alleghany, Fall River, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Buffalo,
Reading, and Portland (Ohio). Besides these there were trades
assemblies extending over an entire industrial county like the
trades assemblies of Essex County and of Passaic County, New
Jersey, and Alleghany County, Pennsylvania. In New Or-
leans, Galveston, and Savannah, trade unions of coloured work-
men existing in the water-front trades, were admitted to the
trades assemblies on an equal footing with the other unions. ^^
17 Waltershausen, Die Nordame.ri- Einfltus der fort«chreitenden Produe-
kanitchen Oewerkschaften unter dem tionatechnik, 185, 147.
TRADES COUNCILS 311
In New Orleans this occurred at the initiative of the Typo-
graphical Union as early as 1881.^^
The trades council played an important part during this
period when national organisations existed in only 30 trades,
while the number of trades organised locally in the large cities
frequently reached 100.^^ The trade council, by uniting them
all, was for the time being more representative of the labour
movement than either the loosely affiliated national trade unions
or the relatively unimportant Knights of Labor.^^
The functions of the trades council were economic, legisla-
tive, and political. The numerous local unions without a na-
tional organisation derived from them the same support which
a subordinate local union received from its national union. In
only a few cities, however, was the council granted the right
to levy compulsory strike assessments upon its constituent
unions. ^^ Generally it issued appeals for voluntary contribu-
tions which were, as a rule, liberally supplied. A trade union
which refused aid to a sister union in a strike forfeited the
right to demand similar assistance.^^
Aside from direct pecuniary assistance during strikes, the
trades council was a useful agency for mediation between the
employers and a striking trade union. It naturally enjoyed
greater authority than the individual union and was able to get
a hearing from the employers where the latter could not. With
the inauguration of the era of boycotts during 1883 and 1884,
the trades council became the recognised leader of that move-
ment. The New York Amalgamated Trades and Labor Union
took the lead in enforcing boycotts, as it did also in independent
political action and in promoting legislation. Several trades
councils, as in Denver, succeeded in preventing the state legis-
lature from enacting anti-labour conspiracy laws. Also, by
18 Sorge, " Die Arbeiter Bewegung in blies of the Knights of Labor were repre-
den Vereinigten Staaten, 1877-1885," in sented in the trades councils.
Neue Zeit, 1891-1892, II, 244. 21 For instance, in San Francisco, The
19 The Tenth Census enumerates 2,440 New York Amalgamated Trades and La-
local trade unions in the United States in bor Union had the right of making com-
1880, of which not more than one-half pulsory assessment until 1881. Walter-
were attached to national trade unions. shausen. Die nordamerikanischen Gewerh-
Thirty of this number probably were city tchaften, 138.
trades assemblies. Weeks, "Trade Socie- 22 Ibid. ; quoted from the Constitution
ties," in U. S. Census, 1880, XX, 14-19. of the Cincinnati Trades and Labor As-
20 In a number of cities, as for instance, sembly.
New York and Denver, the local assem-
312 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
advocating labour legislation, the formation of state bureaus of
labour and state boards of mediation and arbitration, the
trades council of the early eighties performed with considerable
success the function which now belongs to the state federations
of labour.
A special type of local central body which, for the first time,
now began to acquire importance, was the building trades coun-
cil. This differed entirely from the general councils of the
period, since it took no part in political or legislative acts, nor
in boycotts. It was rather a union of several trades working
for different contractors on the same job — a federation for the
purpose of sympathetic strikes — a move towards industrialism
in organisation without the revolutionary tendency which the
term in its present use implies. These councils developed the
present type of the " business " man among trade union officials
— the walking delegate. In 'Rew York City the council was
composed of twenty-five unions. The bricklayers' union, the
strongest in the council, conducted 29 strikes during the summer
months of 1883, of which 27 were successful. Their wages
were raised to $4 and $5 a day.^^ However, at this time the
building trades councils were yet rare, and the building trades
unions gave their support to the general city trades councils, a
fact which contributed in no small degree to the strength of the
latter.
Waltershausen ^* describes at length the operation of the fed-
erations of the water-front trades in the cotton-exporting ports
of Savannah, New Orleans, and Galveston. These federations
included unions of 'longshoremen, draymen, yardmen, cotton
classers and markers, scale hands, weighers and re-weighers,
pressmen and screwmen, no distinction being made between
white and coloured in the matter of admittance to the union.
By means of the sympathetic strike and of favourable state
legislation, such as the law in Louisiana prohibiting sailors
from strange vessels working in the port, these federations suc-
ceeded in reducing the working day to nine hours and in rais-
ing wages to $5 and $6 per day. In Galveston the conditions
of employment were regulated by a written trade agreement
23 Senate Committee on Education and 24 Waltershausen, Die nordamerikani'
Labor Report, 1885, I, 818-817, achen Oewerkachaften, 142-148.
NATIONAL UNIONS 313
between the federation and the association of shipping mer-
chants, but the agreement was one-sided, since the federation
was in a position to exercise tyranny over the employers.
There existed also another type of city federation. This
was the United German Trades, which was formed in New
York, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and other cities with a
considerable German working population. These bodies stood
in very close relation to the Socialist Labor party and they
supported and spread the German labour and socialist papers.
As was said above, the national trade unions existed during
this period in only about thirty trades. Eighteen of these had
either retained a nucleus during the seventies or were first
formed during that decade. The following is a list of the na-
tional unions in existence in 1880 with the year of formation:
Typographical (1850), Hat Finishers' (1854), Iron Holders
(1859), Locomotive Engineers (1863), Cigar makers (1864),
Bricklayers and Masons (1865), Silk and Fur Hat Finishers
(1866), Railway Conductors (1868), Coopers (1870), German
Typographia (1873), Locomotive Firemen (1873), Horse-
shoers (1874), Furniture Workers (1873), Iron and Steel
Workers (1876), Granite Cutters (1877), Lake Seamen
(1878), Cotton Mill Spinners (1878), New England Boot and
Shoe Lasters (1879).
In 1880 the western greenbottle blowers' national union was
established; in 1881 the national unions of boilermakers and
carpenters; in 1882, plasterers and metal-workers; in 1883,
tailors, lithographers, wood-carvers, railroad brakemen, and
silk-workers.
An illustration of the rapid growth in trade union member-
ship during this period is given in the following figures : The
bricklayers' union had 303 in 1880, 1,558 in 1881, 6,848 in
1882, 9,193 in 1883, each of these figures representing the
membership in the month of January. The typographical
union had 5,968 members in 1879, 6,520 in 1880, 7,931 in
1881, 10,439 in 1882, 12,273 in 1883. The cigar makers'
union had 1,250 in 1879, 4,409 in 1880, 12,000 in 1881, 11,430
in 1882, 13,214 in 1883. The carpenters' and joiners' brother-
hood had 2,042 in 1881, the year of its organisation, 3,780 in
1882, 3,293 in 1883. A comparison between the growth of
314 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
the bricklayers', the typographical, and the cigar makers'
unions, on the one hand, with the carpenters' union on the
other, demonstrates that those unions which had retained dur-
ing the seventies an organised nucleus, grew much more rapidly
during the years of prosperity than the national unions which
started anew.
The total trade union membership in the country, counting
the three railway organisations and those organised only locally,
amounted to between 200,000 and 225,000 in 1883 and prob-
ably was not below 300,000 in the beginning of 1885.^^
The national trade unions of the early eighties differed but
little in structure and policies from the unions of the sixties and
seventies. Only five national unions, the cigar makers, the
iron moulders, the granite cutters, the carpenters and joiners,
and the German-American Typographia possessed benefit sys-
tems prior to 1887. The control over the local unions, except
in the cigar makers' union remained imperfect; the latter con-
tinued to regulate apprenticeship, hours, and wages, to conduct
strikes, and to negotiate with employers. The unions were
eager to get trade agreements; they demanded Federal incor-
poration for the reason, as they thought, that official recogni-
tion by the United States would lead to recognition by em-
ployers ^^ besides doing away with conspiracy laws of the sev-
eral States and protecting their funds. But apart from the
railway organisations, which, owing to their peculiar strategic
position achieved recognition in the seventies, and the Amalga-
mated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, the first perma-
nent system of local trade agreements was not adopted until
25 It was found impossible to obtain ton, " American Labor Organizations," in
accurate membership figures for the first North- American Review, CXL, 48) esti-
half of the eighties. P. J. McGuire, in mated the total trade union membership at
his testimony before the Senate Committee 436,000, placing the membership of un-
on Education and Labor in 1883 {Report, attached locals at approximately 75,000.
1885, I, 316), estimated the membership Only a small portion of the figures upon
of 24 national trade unions at 250,000, which he based his estimate was official,
but this is evidently an exaggeration, as the remainder having been taken from
revealed by a comparison of his estimated McGuire; so that 300,000 should be a lib-
figures for several trade unions with the eral estimate for 1885.
actual figures at hand. However, if we 28 See Senate Committee on Education
should add the membership of the unat- and Labor, Report, 1885: testimony of
tached local unions, which was at that P. J. McGuire of the carpenters, I, 324;
time particularly large, varying probably of Adolph Strasser and Samuel Gompers
from 40,000 to 50,000, we might arrive of the cigar makers, 379, 461; and of
at a total of 200,000 in 1883. In the be- John Jarrett of the Amalgamated Iron and
ginning of 1885, Richard J. Hinton (Hin- Steel Workers, 1150.
IMMIGRANT MEMBERSHIP 315
1887 in the bricklaying trade of Chicago, and the first national
trade agreement was not adopted until 1890 in the stove-mould-
ing industry.
A distinguishing characteristic of the trade unions of this
time was the predominance in them of the foreign element.
The Illinois Bureau of Labor ^^ describes the ethnical com-
position of the trade unions of that State during 1886, and
states that 21 per cent were American, 33 per cent, German, 19
per cent, Irish, 10 per cent, British other than Irish, 12 per
cent, Scandinavians, and the Poles, Bohemians, and Italians
about 5 per cent. The strong predominance of the foreign ele-
ment in the American trade unions should not appear unusual,
since, owing to the breakdown of the apprenticeship system, the
United States had been drawing its supply of skilled labour
from abroad.
Colonel Richard T. Auchmuty, the pioneer worker for in-
dustrial schools and an authority on the situation in the build-
ing trades, said in a paper entitled : " Who are our Me-
chanics," read before the national convention of builders' ex-
changes in 1889 :
" In the building trades, we have mechanics from England, Ire-
land, France, Italy, and Germany, and we have mechanics who are
our own countrymen. Each nationality usually follows some par-
ticular trade. In New York, for instance, the stone masonry is
mostly done by the sons of Italy ; Englishmen and Irishmen lay the
brick. When the heavy work of putting on the beams, or of framing
and placing in position the roof trusses, begins, seldom an English
word is spoken ; the broad shoulders and brawny muscles of the Ger-
man furnish the motive-power. Irishmen and Americans in about
equal number do the carpenters' work. In the plumbing trade,
where science is as needful as skill, — thanks, perhaps, to the interest
the master plumbers have taken in the plumbing school — our own
countrymen will soon have control. Where delicate artistic work is
required, we find the Frenchman and the German. In all the
trades, except the plumbing, we find that the best workmen, those
who command the steadiest employment, are of foreign birth." ^^
Colonel Auchmuty charged the trade unions with responsi-
bility for this situation, but Professor Bemis conclusively
showed that the real cause was the unwillingness of the em-
27 Illinois Bureau of Labor, Report, 1886, p. 227.
28 Trade Training — an Address, 2.
316 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ployer, who now no longer worked side by side with his journey-
men, to assume the responsibility of training apprentices.^®
The Tenth Census reports ^^ the total number of strikes
and lockouts during 1880 as 762,^^ but gives detailed informa-
tion only for 414, involving altogether 128,262 wage-earners.^^
Strikes occurred much less frequently in 1881, since the
rapid rise in prices and the progress of organisation made for
concessions without them. In Ohio,^^ out of 463 reports on
conditions of employment, an increase in wages was stated in
202, but in only 26 cases of this number did strikes occur.
During the year 1882, however, there was a large number of
labour disputes. The partial failure of crops in the United
States in 1881 was followed in the spring of 1882 by an increase
in the cost of living. At the same time the employers were not
inclined to make advances in wages, for they were anticipating
a further decline in the market resulting from a diminished de-
mand for their products on the part of the agricultural popula-
tion. The most important strike of the year was the iron
workers' strike in the West. The iron workers' strike was de-
clared on June 1, 1882 and lasted 16 weeks, tying up 116 estab-
lishments in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Illi-
nois, and Wisconsin, and involving about 35,000 men. A
sliding scale agreement between the Amalgamated Association
of Iron and Steel Workers and the iron-mill owners, based upon
the selling price of bar iron, had been in existence since 1865,
but now the association demanded a general increase of 15 to
25 per cent, in spite of the low market on bar iron, claiming that
the mills sold iron largely in other shapes and at advantageous
prices. The manufacturers of the affected regions acted as a
unit and the association was obliged to call off the strike on Sep-
tember 19.3*
In general the trade unions met with no great success in
29 Bemis, " Trades Unions and Appren- did not begin its comprehensive statistics
tices," in American Journal of Social Sci- of strikes until the year 1886, and the
ence, 1891, XXVIII, 116. He quoted the first year covered was 1881.
Massachusetts Industrial Census of 1885 31 This number includes only eighty-five
to the effect that in carpentering there disputes definitely known as lockouts,
was only 1 apprentice to 62 journeymen, 32 Weeks, " Strikes and Lockouts," in
in masonry, 1 to 105, in painting, 1 to U. S. Census, 1880, XX, 5, 6, 8, 10, 27.
89, in plumbing, 1 to 44, etc., obviously 33 Ohio Bureau of Labor, Report, 1881,
ratios far below those enforced by the p. 195.
unions. 34 Pennsylvania Bureau of Labor, Be-
30 The Federal Department of Labor port, 1882, pp. 174-190.
BOYCOTT 317
1882. In the State of Missouri, out of 43 strikes reported to
the state bureau of labour, 13 only were successful and 26 ended
in absolute failure. The stonecutters, masons, and bricklayers
were most successful in their strikes, the moulders moderately
so, but the other unions suffered defeat, notably the painters
who lost 18 strikes out of 20.^^
Notwithstanding these many defeats, the trade unions of the
early eighties accomplished their mission with high success,
especially west of the Alleghanies. If they did not win in
many strikes, their very existence forced employers in many in-
stances to pass on a share of prosperity to the employes with-
out allowing strikes to occur.
The strike was the weapon par excellence of the trade unions
during the early eighties, but already we find a more or less
frequent resort to the boycott. The typographical union was
the pioneer boycotter, and it first began its use in the West.
The Milwaukee printers^ union, as early as 1881, declared a
boycott against a daily, the Republican and News; also against
a saloon which subscribed to this paper. The boycott was suc-
cessful and the publisher solved the problem by selling out to the
Sentinel. ^^
The boycott which for the first time attracted nation-wide at-
tention was the one declared by Typographical Union 6, of New
York ("Big Six"), on December 18, 1883,^^ against the New
York Tribune. The causes were the discharge of union men
and the non-observance of a written agreement entered into
one month previously between the foreman and the union, which
the union understood to have been ratified by the owner. White-
law Eeid. The union established a special paper, the Boy-
cotter. Operations were directed not only against the Tribune
and its advertisers, but in the next year the boycott became a
factor in the presidential campaign. The union declared
against James Gr. Blaine, after the Republican national con-
vention of 1884 had refused to repudiate the Tribune as its
35 Missouri Labor Bureau, Report, the United States — though not then
1882, pp. 122, 123. known by that name — was the action
36 Wisconsin Bureau of Labor, Report, taken by the New York Protective Asso-
1883-1884. pp. 149, 150. ciation (comprising various trade unions)
37 New York Bureau of Labor, Report, against the Duryea Glen Cove [starch]
1885, p. 356, says: "One of the earliest Manufacturing Company, some five or six
cases of boycotting of any magnitude in years ago."
318 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
party organ. Cleveland's plurality in the pivotal state of New
York was so narrow that the boycott against the Tribune was
a factor in deciding the election. The labour organisations in
the country^ especially the Knights of Labor, took up enthusi-
astically the cause of " Big Six " and supported it until it
terminated in August, 1892, with a victory for the union.^®
However, the boycotts prior to 1884 were mere symptoms of
the coming outburst which coincided during the following
years with the remarkable growth of the Knights of Labor.
The boycott was a weapon used much less by the trade unions
than by the Knights of Labor.
TOWARDS FEDERATION
The national trade unions, isolated as they were from one
another, felt the need of a common bond. This they attempted
to secure in the Federation of Organised^ Trades and Labor
Unions of the United States and Canada, which was founded in
Pittsburgh in November, 1881.
The last date of a national federation of skilled trades was
1873, when the national unions attempted to reorganise the
National Labor Union on trade union lines. The subsequent
attempt of the Pittsburgh convention in 1876 brought no re-
sults, for it resolved itself into a battle between the socialists
and the greenbackers. The condition of depression during the
seventies, and the disintegration of trade unions, nullified such
attempts. From time to time, one or another national union
issued letters to the presidents of other unions urging the neces-
sity of a national federation. But not until the turn of the
tide of prosperity could anything be accomplished.
The initiative which was finally crowned with success came
apparently from a non-trade union source. A disaffected group
of the Knights of Labor, who desired to establish a rival order,
called a conference for this purpose to meet August 2, 1881, at
Terre Haute, Indiana.^ ^ The conference was attended by J.
E. Coughlin, president of the National Tanners' and Curriers'
Union; E. Powers, general president of the Lake Seamen's
38 " History of Typographical Union 6," 30 Sorge, " Die Amerikanishe Arbeiter-
in New York Bureau of Labor, Report, Foderation," in Nette Zeit, 1895-1896, II,
1911. p, 892. 236.
FEDERATION OF UNIONS 319
Union; Lyman A. Brant, International Typographical Union;
P. J. McGuire, St. Louis Trades and Labor Assembly; T.
Thompson, International Molders' Union, Dayton, Ohio;
George W. Osborn, Springfield, Ohio; W. C. Pollner, Cleve-
land Trades Assembly; Samuel L. Leffingwell, Indianapolis
Trades Assembly; J. R. Backus, Terre Haute Amalgamated
Labor Union; and Mark W. Moore. Moore apparently repre-
sented the insurgent Knights of Labor.*^ The conference ef-
fected a temporary organisation, issued a call to all trades and
labour unions of the United States and Canada, appointing as
a standing committee, Lyman A. Brant, chairman and Mark W.
Moore, corresponding secretary-treasurer. The framers of the
call defined the objects for which the federation should be estab-
lished in the following words:
". . . Only in such a body [a federation of trades] can proper
action be taken to promote the general welfare of the industrial
classes. There we can discuss and examine all questions afPecting
the national interests of each and every trade, and by a combination
of forces secure that justice which isolated and separate trade and
labor unions can never fully command.
'' A national Trades Union Congress can prepare labour measures
and agree upon laws they desire passed by the Congress of the
United States ; and a Congressional Labor Committee, after the
manner of the Parliamentary Committee of Trades Unions in Eng-
land, could be elected to urge and advance legislation at Washington
on all such measures, and report to the various trades.
" In addition to this, an annual congress of trades unions could
organise a systematic agitation to propagate trades union principles,
and to impress the necessity of protective trade and labor organ-
isations, and to encourage the formation of such unions and their
amalgamation in trades assemblies. Thus we could elevate trades
unionism and obtain for the working classes that respect for their
rights, and that reward for their services, to which they are justly
entitled.
" A federation of this character can be organised with a few simple
rules and no salaried officers. The expenses of its management will
be trivial and can be provided for by the Trades Union Congress.
" Impressed with the necessity of such a federation, and the im-
40 His name does not appear among the cry resembling closely the Agitate ! Edu-
signers of the call issued by the conference, cate ! Organise I of the Knights of Labor,
but as temporary secretary-treasurer. He First Annual Convention of the Federation
spoke at the convention at Pittsburgh, and of Organized Trades and Labor Unions
ended his report by the words: " Agi- of the United States and Canada, Jtevort,
tate! Educate! Consolidate!" — a rallying X881, pp. 7, 8,
320 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
portance of an International Trades Union Congress to perfect
the organisation, we, the undersigned, delegates, in a preliminary
national convention assembled at Terre Haute, Indiana, held August
2d, 1881, do hereby resolve to issue the following call:
" That all international and national unions, trades assemblies or
councils, and local trades or labor unions are hereby invited to send
delegates to an International Trades Union Congress, to be held in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, November 15, 1881. Each
local union will be entitled to one delegate for one hundred members
or less, and one additional delegate for each additional five hundred
members or major part thereof; also, one delegate for each inter-
national or national union, and one delegate for each trades assembly
or council/'
The call was signed by nine delegates present. After the
conference adjourned, the following names were added to the
list: George Clark, president of the International Typo-
graphical Union; P. F. Fitzpatrick, president of the iron
moulders' union ; John Kinnear, president of the Central Trade
and Labor Assembly, Boston; and George Rodgers, president
of the Chicago Trades Assembly.
The call explicitly stated that the object sought by the signers
was primarily a national federation to look after the legisla-
/tive interests of trade unionists, and only secondarily to propa-
gate the principles of trade unionism. It is easy to understand
why the unions of the early eighties did not feel the need of a
/federation on economic lines. The main economic functions
of the present American Federation of Labor are the assist-
ance of national trade unions in organising their trades, the
organisation of local unions where no national union exists,
the adjustment of jurisdictional disputes, concerted action in
matters of especial importance such as shorter hours, the " open
shop," or boycotts. None of these functions would have been
of material importance to the trade unions of the early eighties.
Existing in well-defined trades, which were not affected by
technical changes, they had no jurisdictional disputes; oper-
ating at a period of great prosperity with full employment and
rising wages, they did not realise a necessity for concerted
, action ; the era of the boycotts had not yet begim. As for
V having a common agency to do the work of organising, it is
tnie that the call mentioned it, but subsequent history showed
k
FEDERATION 321
that it carried littk weight. The trade unions of the early
eighties had no keen desire to organise any but the skilled work-
men ; and, since the competition of workmen in small towns had
not yet made itself felt, each national trade union strove to or-
ganise primarily the workmen of its trade in the larger cities,
a function for which its own means were adequate. Moreover,
as yet the trade unionists felt no menace to their organisations
from the Knights of Labor; in fact, they were in perfect har-
mony with the Knights. We can, therefore, understand why
the unions sought in a national federation a mere legislative
organisation, accepting as their model, as they stated in the
Terre Haute call, the British Trades Union Congress.
The Pittsburgh convention was opened by Lyman A. Brant,
of the typographical union, as chairman of the standing com-
mittee appointed at TerreHaute. It had a large and a varied
attendance, 107 delegates being present, representing 8 national
and international trade unions, 11 city trades councils, 42 local
trade unions, 3" district assemblies of the Knights of Labor,^^
and 46 local assemblies of the Knights, including Local Assem-
bly 300, which was in fact the national trade assembly of the
window-glass workers. The national trade unions represented
were the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers
by its president, John Jarrett; the cigar makers' union by
Samuel Gompers; the coopers', by its president, Thomas Hen-
nebery; the granite cutters', by John J. Thompson; the typo-
graphical, by Lyman A. Brant; the cotton and wool spinners,
by Robert Howard; the lake seamen's union by Richard
Powers, and the German American Typographia by Gustav
Fowitz. The local trades assemblies were the Assembly of the
Pacific Coast Trades and Labor Unions, and the assemblies of
Chicago, Indianapolis, Boston, Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo, E"ew
York, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. Sixty-eight of
the delegates, including mainly the Knights of Labor, came
from the vicinity of Pittsburgh.^^ The large representation
sent by the Knights was in part due to their fear lest the con-
vention should organise a rival to their Order, a fear which had
41 No. 3 of Pittsburgh by general secre- *2 Among these was one coloured dele-
tary of the Knights of Labor, R. D. Lay- gate,
ton; No. 2 of Unionville, N. J., and No.
39 of Clarksburg, W. Va.
322 HISTORY OF LABOtJB IN THE UNITED STATES
some foundation, if we recall that the Terre Haute conference
had originally been called for that purpose.
The question of the election of a permanent president gave
rise to the first division of opinion. The committee on perma-
nent organisation, one member from each State, with Eobert
Howard, of the mule spinners, as chairman, and W. H. Foster,
of the Cincinnati Trades and Labor Assembly, as secretary,
submitted a majority report recommending Samuel Gompers
for president. The opposition submitted a minority report
signed by five members, recommending Eichard Powers of the
lake seamen's union, Chicago, for the position. The issue was
twofold: first, between the East and West, and second, between
the socialists and their opponents. The latter were charged
with having inserted in the Pittsburgh Commercial-Gazette an
article containing the following: '^ The latter [Mr. Gompers]
is the leader of the Socialist element, which is pretty well
represented in the CongTess, and one of the smartest men pres-
ent. It is thought that an attempt will be made to capture the
organisation for Mr. Gompers [for Permanent President] as
the representative of the Socialists, and if such an attempt is
made, whether it succeeds or not, there will likely be some lively
work, as the delegates opposed to Socialism are determined not
to be controlled by it. If the Socialists do not have their own
way, they may bolt, as they have always done in the past. If
they do bolt, the power of the proposed organisation will be so
seriously crippled as to almost destroy its usefulness.'' ^^
But the " lively work " was spared, since both Gompers and
Powers voluntarily ceded the place to John Jarrett of the Amal-
gamated Iron and Steel Workers, and were elected as vice-
presidents.
The convention charged two special committees with framing
a constitution and a declaration of principles. They were
made up of fourteen members, one from each State. Samuel
Gompers was chairman of the first committee and Samuel L.
Leffing^vell, of the second. Article I of the proposed consti-
tution gave rise to a lengthy and interesting discussion. It
stated that " this association shall be known as ^ The Federa-
tion of Organised Trades Unions of the United States of Amer-
43 Report of Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, 1881, p. 11.
FEDERATION 323
ica and Canada,' and shall consist of such Trades Unions as
shall, after being duly admitted, conform to its rules and regu-
lations, and pay all contributions required to carry out the
objects of this Federation." ^*
The Knights of Labor delegates interpreted the restriction
of membership to ^^ Trades Unions " as amounting to an exclu-
sion of the unskilled. The representative of the International
Typographical Union supported the Knights, but on the other
hand, Gompers (the cigar makers), Jarrett (the amalgamated
iron and steel workers), Henneberry (the coopers), and Powers
(the lake seamen) defended the wording as read. Gompers said
that the committee had no intention "■ to exclude any working
man who believes in and belongs to organised labor." *^ Jar-
rett said the same, but Henneberry definitely stated : ^' I am in
favour of helping everybody and anybody, but let all trades
join their respective national organisations." ^^ Powers ad-
vanced the argument that the wording '^ Trades Unions " will
keep out of the Federation political labor bodies which might
try to force themselves into our future deliberations." ^'^ How-
ever, the article was amended to read " Trades and Labor
Unions," thus meeting the objection of the champions of un-
skilled labour.
But the national trade unions succeeded in carrying their
point in the matter of representation at the conventions. The
committee's report gave them one vote for every 5,000 or less
and one vote for every additional 5,000 members, or major
fraction thereof. The local trades councils were given one vote
each, but it was added that " no local Trade or Labor Union
shall be entitled to a representation in the sessions of this Feder-
ation where International or National Unions of said craft exist,
or where there are Trades Assemblies or Councils in the local-
ity." ^® This plan was rejected, but neither was a substitute
adopted which proposed to make the local trade union the basis
of representation. The section was referred back to the com-
mittee and when it emerged it was so worded that no local trade
union, whether aiSliated with a national union or not, received
any representation; local trades councils or assemblies got one
vote each, but the representation of national trade unions was
4* Ibid., 16. 45 Ibid. 46 Ibid., 17. 47 Ibid. 48 Ibid.
324 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
raised 1 vote for 1,000 members or less, 2 for 4,000, 3 for 8,000,
and so on.
The constitution provided for a revenue to be derived from a
per capita tax of 3 cents per member annually from each, trade
and labour union, trades assembly, or council affiliated with the
federation. No president was provided for, but a legislative
committee of five, including a federation secretary, were to be
the only executive officers. Gompers received 32 votes for secre-
tary on the first ballot, Crawford, his nearest opponent, 17, and
Foster of Ohio, 16. This division was evidently determined
by the same motives as at the time of electing a permanent presi-
dent. On the third ballot the supporters of Crawford voted for
Foster, who was elected by a vote of 99 to 31.
The platform revealed considerable difference of opinion, but
by a narrow margin of three votes. President Jarrett forced
through a declaration favouring a protective tariff, in spite of
the protest of those who were either free traders (the delegates
from the West) or of those who in order to avoid dissension did
not desire to bring up the tariff question at all. Jarrett also
ruled out of the proposed platform, as "being foreign to the
purpose for which this convention was convened," two resolu-
tions, one dealing with railway discrimination and extortion
practised against small shippers and another demanding that
the government reclaim the railway land grants forfeited by
reason of non-fulfilment of contract and keep them henceforth
as homes for actual settlers. The platform as adopted de-
manded: legal incorporation for trade unions, compulsory edu-
cation for children, the prohibition of child labour before four-
teen, uniform apprentice laws, the enforcement of the national
eight-hour law, prison labour reform, abolition of the " truck ''
and " order '^ system, mechanics' lien, abolition of conspiracy
laws as applied to labour organisations, a national bureau of
labour statistics, a protective tariff for American labour, an
anti-contract immigrant law, and recommended " all trades and
labor organisations to secure proper representation in all law-
making bodies by means of the ballot, and to use all honorable
measures by which this result can be accomplished." ^®
49 Proceedings, 4. Resolutions were trade unionists. Chinese immigration was
also adopted expressing sympathy with the condemned, the licensing of stationary en-
Irish people and greetings to the British gineers demanded, etc.
INCORPORATION 325
The plank of incorporation demanded " that an organisation
of workingmen unto what is known as a Trades or Labor Un-
ion should have the right to the protection of their property in
like manner as the property of all other persons and societies,
and to accomplish this purpose we insist upon the passage of
laws in the State Legislatures and in Congress for the incorpora-
tion of Trades Unions and similar labour organisations." ^^
The desire expressed for incorporation is of extreme interest
when compared with the opposite attitude of the present day.
The motive behind it then was more than the mere securing of
protection for trade union funds. A full enumeration of the
other motives can be obtained from the testimony of the labour
leaders before the Senate Committee on Education and Labour
in 1883. McGuire argued for a national law, mainly for the
reason that such a law passed by Congress would remove the
trade unions from the operation of the conspiracy laws that
existed on the rtatute books of a number of States, notably N'ew
York and Pennsylvania. He pleaded that ^' if it [Congress]
has not the power, it should assume the power ; and, if necessary,
amend the constitution to do it.'' ^^ Strasser raised the point of
protection for union funds and gave as a second reason that it
" will give our organisation more stability, and in that manner
we shall be able to avoid strikes by perhaps settling with our
employers, when otherwise we should be unable to do so, be-
cause when our employers know that we are to be legally recog-
nised that will exercise such moral force upon them that they
cannot avoid recognising us themselves." ^^ W. H. Foster
stated that in Ohio the law provided for incorporation at a
slight cost, but he wanted a national law to " legalise arbitra-
tion " by which he meant that '^ when a question of dispute
arose between the employers and the employed, instead of
having it as now, when the one often refuses to even acknowl-
edge or discuss the question with the other, if they were re-
quired to submit the question to arbitration, or to meet on the
same level before an impartial tribunal, there is no doubt but
what the result would be more in our favor than it is now,
when very often public opinion cannot hear our cause." He,
50 Ibid., 3.
51 Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Report, 1885, I, 326.
52 Ibid., 461.
326 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
however, did not desire to have compulsory arbitration, but
merely compulsory dealing with the union, or compulsory in-
vestigation by an impartial body, both parties to remain free
to accept the reward, provided, however, " that once they do
agree the agreement shall remain in force for a fixed period." ^*
Like Foster, John Jarrett argued for an incorporation law
before the committee, solely for its effect upon conciliation and
arbitration.^* He, too, was opposed to compulsory arbitration,
but he showed that he had thought out the point less clearly
than Foster.^''
The above shows that the argument for incorporation had
shifted from co-operation, the ground upon which it was urged
during the sixties, to collective bargaining and arbitration — a
change which denotes a fundamental change in the aim of the
labour movement — from idealistic striving for self -employment
to opportunistic trade unionism. The young and struggling
trade unions of the early eighties saw only the good side of in-
corporation without its pitfalls; their subsequent experience
with the courts converted them from exponents into ardent op-
ponents of incorporation and of what Foster termed " legalised
arbitration."
The second convention of the Federation met in Cleveland,
November 21, 1882, with only nineteen delegates present. The
reduction in numbers was due to the absence of the Knights of
Labor and of the Association of Amalgamated Iron and Steel
Workers, both of whom had been numerously represented in
Pittsburgh. Eight national and international trade unions and
ten trades' councils sent delegates. The former were the Amal-
gamated Society of Engineers, Machinists and Millwrights, the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the Cigar
Makers' International Union, the German American Typo-
graphia, the Granite Cutters' National Union,^® the Lake Sea-
men's Union, the International Typographical Union, and the
National Mule Spinners' Association. Each union had one
delegate, except the cigar makers and the lake seamen, who
were represented by two. The remaining delegates came from
53 Ibid., 403. 06 The delegate of their union was
84 Ibid., 1150. Thomas H. Murch, a congressman from
55 Gompers also spoke in favour of in- Maine, elected as a greenbacker in 1878.
corporation but gave no reasons.
FEDERATION 327
the trades assemblies of Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland,
Dayton, Detroit, District of Columbia, Indianapolis, New York,
and the Pacific Coast.
Leffingwell of the Indianapolis Trades Assembly was chosen
president, Gompers, vice-president, Congressman Murch, the
English secretary, and Hugo Miller, of the German- American
Typographia, the German secretary. The report of the legis-
lative committee complained of meagre support from the trade
unions which prevented the Federation from accomplishing any
work. When the congressional committee was appointed, it
sent a letter to Speaker Keifer, of the House of Representatives,
suggesting names for the standing committee on education and
labour, but the speaker did not even acknowledge the receipt of
the letter. Richard Powers, of the Lake Seamen's Union, was
sent to Washington in the interest of a seamen's safety bill, and
he also helped to defeat a bill forbidding seamen to organise.
Although he represented the Federation, his expenses were paid
by his own union. Another mark of lack of interest in the Fed-
eration was shown by the fact that only one-half of the 5,000
copies of proceedings of the Pittsburgh convention were sold
during the year. The Federation, with an annual budget of
but $445.31, doubtless failed to justify the expectations of its
organisers.
The convention gave attention to the tariff, to the eight-hour
day, and to the land question. Frank Foster, of Boston, repre-
senting the International Typographical Union, moved to strike
out the tariff plank in the constitution, on the ground that under
the protective tariff, prosperity was not passed on to the work-
ingmen.'' It was carried against one negative vote. An eight-
hour declaration, presented by the Chicago Trade and Labor
Assembly and drawn up in the spirit of Ira Steward's teaching,
was passed with the amendment, however, changing the wording
from " the only " remedy to " a " remedy. Gompers felt luke-
warm towards the declaration, for to him the eight-hour day
meant providing more employment rather than raising the
standard of living and thereby wages.^^ The land question was
brought up in the form of a single-tax resolution offered by
Grennell, of the Detroit trades assembly, but the general con-
57 Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, Proceedings, 1882, p. 17.
328 HISTOEY OF LABOUK IN THE UNITED STATES
sensiis of opinion, as expressed by Gompers, was the more so-
cialistic view that " it is not the ownership of land that should
be fought, but the doings of the capitalists we are organised
to oppose." ^^ The convention, however, recognised the Henry
George agitation by recommending the study of the land ques-
tion. Two planks were added to the platform, one opposing the
contract system on public works and the other demanding em-
ployers' liability. Eesolutions were adopted demanding the
further restriction of Chinese immigration and extending an
invitation to women's trade unions to affiliate with the Feder-
ation. The basis of representation was changed to admit, in
addition to national trade unions and city trades councils, state
or provincial federations of trades unions with two votes, district
assemblies of the Knights of Labor ^^ with one vote, and local
trade unions also with one vote each, provided that 'Vno local
trade union shall be entitled to representation which has not
been organised six months prior to the session of this body," a
measure taken apparently to safeguard against politicians.
The national trade union remained, of course, the basic _uilit_of
the Federation.
The convention adjourned on November 24, having re-elected
W. H. Foster as secretary of the legislative committee, and
Gompers, Howard, Edmonston, and Powers, members. Gom-
pers was subsequently chosen by the committee as chairman and
Powers as first vice-chairman.
The third convention of the Federation opened in New York
City on August 21, 1883, with twenty-seven delegates. The
same national trade unions as in the previous convention, with
the exception of the granite cutters, were represented. Dele-
gates from 5 city trades assemblies, 1 state assembly, the work-
ingmen's assembly of the State of New York, 5 local trade
unions, and a women's national labour league completed the roll.
Gompers was chosen president, and the legislative committee
made a report differing but little in contents from the report at
the previous convention. The committee used Gabriel Edmon-
ston, of the carpenters' brotherhood, who resided in Washington,
58 Ibid., 23. of Labor, when, on the contrary, it had
50 Richard Powers called attention to decided that the Knights of Labor shall
the fact that " an impression had gone out have an equal representation in the Fed-
that this Congress ignored the Knights eration," Ibid., 27.
FEDERATION 329
as a lobbyist before Congress,^^ and he introduced through Con-
gressman Murch a bill for the incorporation of trade unions.®^
Considerable success in getting legislation was attained during
the year by the trade unions in New York, New Jersey, Massa-
chusetts, Michigan, and Maine, but the only credit that the Fed-
eration could claim was the one that its platform demanded all
the measures enacted. The report referred to " over-zealous
partisans who continued efforts detrimental to that harmony
which should exist between labor organisations," — a veiled
attack on the Knights of Labor.
The convention discussed steps to be taken to make the Fed-
eration represent the entire labour movement. The committee
on standing orders reported a resolution which called for the
appointment of a special committee to " confer with the Knights
of Labor, and other kindred labour organisations, with a view
to a thorough unification and consolidation of the working peo-
ple throughout the country." ^^ Here the half-concealed ani-
mosity towards the Knights of Labor again revealed itself, for
Gompers opposed too definite action and proposed instead that
the legislative committee be instructed " to enter into immedi-
ate correspondence with the proper officers of national and inter-
national Labor organisations of all descriptions, for the pur-
pose of obtaining their views upon what basis a more thorough
unification of the Labor organisations may be accomplished,-
and to report to the next session of the Federation.^^ Finally
a substitute resolution was passed, directing the legislative com-
mittee to appoint subcommittees to confer, etc., but the name
of the Knights of Labor was not mentioned.^^
No changes were made in the platform. The only interest-
ing discussion in this connection was raised by a letter from
Jarrett declaring that the iron and steel workers' union could
no longer affiliate with the Federation because it had " passed
a series of resolutions condemning tariff." ^^ (.The legislative
committee was thereupon authorised to reply that the action of
the convention of 1882 signified not a condemnation of protec-
60 He received $15 for loss of time. 62 Federation of Organized Trades and
The Federation was too poor to employ a Labor Unions, Proceedings, 1883, p. 10.
regular lobbyist in Washington. 63 Ibid., 11,
61 Senator Blair, of New Hampshire, in- 64 Ibid.
troduced in the Senate ft similar bill at 65 Ibid., 18.
the same session.
330 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
tion, but merely an expression of a desire to keep the Federation
altogether out of the tariff controversy.^^ However, the Amal-
gamated Association did not return to the Federation until
1887.^^
The constitution, like the platform, was left unchanged, ex-
cept that the membership of the legislative committee was in-
creased to 9 so as to include 1 president, 6 vice-presidents, a
secretary, and a treasurer. But a notable advance was made
in the method of legislative action. A resolution was adopted
ordering that " a committee be appointed to attend the next
national conventions of the two great political parties,'"and in
the name of the organised workmen of the United States demand
the incorporation in their platform of principles their position
on the enforcement of the eight-hour law, the incorporation of
national trade organisations, and the establishment of a national
bureau of labor statistics.'' ^^ The important resolutions
passed were two on the hours of labour, one declaring ^' the
question of shortening the hours of labor as paramount to all
other questions at present " ; ^^ another recommending " to in-
ternational, national, and local unions the necessity of shorten-
ing the hours of labor to eight hours per day " ; '^^ another
resolution advocated government ownership of telegraph lines
on the ground that the existing system practised discrimination
and extortion toward the consumers and that under it " the law
of demand of labor is controlled by one corporation " ; a reso-
lution endorsing the cigar makers' label was passed; another
recommended the organisation of factory workers; and finally,
an address was drafted to ^^ Working Girls and Women " urg-
ing them to organise. Upon the new legislative committee for
e« Ibid., 20. government continues " ready-made cloth-
6T The Pittsburgh National Labor Trib- ing should not be allowed to be brought in
une at the time constantly maintained that free of duty, (Ibid., 72, 73.) Some of
the weakness of the Federation was due the national unions affiliated with the Fed-
to the position it had taken upon the eration, however, adopted an out-and-out
tariff. Since these first conventions the stand in the protective tariff controversy.
Federation has scrupulously been on guard The iron and steel workers' union on sev-
against expressing any position upon tariff eral occasions sent lobbyists to Washing-
questions, The convention of 1889 over- ton to urge that steel be protected by high
whelmingly voted down a resolution ask- duties, (Cleveland Citizen, Sept. 23,
ing for an increase of duties upon im- 1893.)
ported cigars. (American Federation of 68 Federation of Organized Trades and
Labor, Proceedings, 1889, p. 24.) In Labor Unions, Proceedings, 1883, p. 11.
1895 the same treatment befell a resolu- 69 Ibid., 17.
tion presented by John B. Lennon, that 10 Ibid,, 16.
" while the protective tariff policy of our
FEDERATION 331
the year were: McLogan, of the Chicago Trade and Labor
Assembly, president; Gompers, first vice-president; Frank H.
Foster and Robert Howard, secretary and treasurer, respec-
tively.
Immediately after the convention adjourned, the legislative
committee, under instructions, made arrangements for a hear-
ing before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor,
which was at that time taking testimony on the relations between
labour and capital/^
During 1884 it became evident that the Federation as a legis-
lative organisation had proved a failure. Manifestly the trade
unions felt no great interest in national legislation. Their
indifference can be measured by the fact that the annual income
of the Federation never exceeded $700 and that, excepting in
1881, none of its conventions represented more than one-fourth
of the trade union membership of the country. Under such
conditions the legislative influence of the Federation naturally
was infinitesimal. The legislative committee carried out the
instructions of the 1883 convention and sent communications
to the national committees of the Republican and Democratic
parties with the request that they should define their position
upon the enforcement of the eight-hour law and other measures.
The letters were not even answered. A subcommittee of the
legislative committee appeared before the two political conven-
tions, but met with no greater attention. The situation is de-
scribed in Secretary Foster's report in the following words:
" In presenting my report as secretary for the year past I am
conscious that its chief interest will consist of the future possi-
bilities it suggests rather than in its record of objects attained.
The lack of funds has seriously crippled the work of the Feder-
ation, and this, coupled with an organisation lacking cohesive-
ness, has allowed small scope for effective expenditure of ef-
fort." ^^ Altogether, notwithstanding the encouraging growth
of local and national unions in the early eighties, the time was
not yet ripe for a national federation.
71 The committee published four vol- their questions. The more important
umes of testimony in 1885, but it never points in the testimony relating to the
presented a report. The testimony elicited labour side of the inquiry were given
throws little light on the situation. Evi- above in connection with incorporation
dently the senators were unfamiliar with and the philosophy of trade unionism,
the subject, as is shown by the nature of 72 Ibid., 1884, p. 17.
CHAPTER VIII
END OF SECRECY IN THE KNIGHTS AND DEVIA-
TION FROM FIRST PRINCIPLES, 1876-1884
Secrecy and the movement for centralisation, 332. District Assembly 1
and the convention at Philadelphia, 1876, 333. The National Labor
League of North America, 333. District Assembly 3 and the convention
at Pittsburgh, 333. Lull in the movement for centralisation, 334. The
Knights and the railway strikes of 1877, 334. Other strikes, 334.
The General Assembly at Reading, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1878, 334.
Preamble, 335. " First Principles " : Education, organisation, and co-oper-
ation, 335. The form of organisation, 337. Special convention on the
secrecy question, June, 1878, 338. Referendum vote, 338. The Catholic
Church and secrecy in the Knights, 339. The compromise in 1879, 339.
Final abolition of secrecy in 1881, 339. Growth and fluctuation in
membership, 1878-1880, 339. The resistance fund, 340. The compro-
mise, 341. Compromise on political action, 341. Claims of the advo-
cates of co-operation and education, 341. Demands of the trade union
element within the Knights, 342. The national trade assembly, 343.
Growth and fluctuation of membership, 1880-1883, 343. Component ele-
ments of the Knights, 344. Unattached local trade unions, 344. Weak
national trade organisations, 345. Advantages to an incipient movement
from affiliation with the Knights, 346. T. V. Powderly — Grand Master
Workman in 1881, 347. Enthusiasm for strikes, 347. The telegraphers
strike in 1883, 348. Unorganised strikes, 349.^ The freight handlers
strike in New York, 349. Failure of the strikes conducted by the Knights
349. Its eff'ect on the fluctuation of membership, 350. The political faction
351. Non-partisan politics, 351. Partiality of the general officers for co
operation, 351. Independent politics in the West, 352. Co-operative be
ginnings, 352. Attitude of the trades unions towards the Knights, 352
Their endeavour to turn the Knights back to " First Principles," 352
General summary, 1876-1884, 353.
After the failure of the Pittsburgh convention of 1876 to
consolidate the labour forces into a single national organisation,
the movement for centralisation within the Order of the Knights
of Labor gained accelerated pace. As said above/ the main
impetus behind this movement was furnished by the secrecy
issue which, since the Molly Maguire excitement was at its
1 See above, II, 200 et aeq.
332
KNIGHTS OF LABOR 333
height, became more pressing than ever. After much deliber-
ation, District Assembly 1 decided to allow all assemblies to
vote on the question. The upghot was that a call was issued
to all assemblies whose addresses could be obtained, to meet in
convention in the city of Philadelphia on July 3, 1876, " for
the purpose of strengthening the Order for [by] a sound and
permanent organisation, also the promoting of peace, harmony,
and the welfare of its members." ^
The convention called by District Assembly 1 met at Phila-
delphia as appointed. District Assembly 3 of Pittsburgh
failed, however, to send representatives, so that the convention
refrained from taking a decisive step in the matter of changing
the main principles and policies of the Order, including secrecy.
On the other hand, the greater portion of the session was
devoted to " strengthening the Order for a sound and permanent
organisation." The keynote of this convention was national
organisation. Upon this certainly all were agreed. Hence a
constitution was drawn up for a national body, and a committee
appointed to draft a constitution by which district assemblies
were to be governed, and the territory in which a district assem-
bly should operate might be inviolable against any like assembly.
Thinking it might be necessary under certain emergencies to
make the name of the organisation known to the public, it was
designated as The N'ational Labor League -of North America.
The only power reserved to the League was control of the secret
ritual, which it could modify by a two-thirds vote. All other
powers remained vested in the district assemblies. A per capita
tax of 5 cents upon the membership was to constitute the sole
revenue of the League. The convention adjourned to meet
later in Pittsburgh, apparently with the intention of reconciling
the rebellious District Assembly 3.^
Meantime, District Assembly 3 called a national convention
of its own to meet at Pittsburgh. The attendance was entirely
from among its followers. District Assembly 1 and its ad-
herents ignored the call. The convention assumed a concilia-
tory attitude by starting out on the presumption that a national
organisation had already been created in Philadelphia. To
2 Powderly, Thirty Years of Labor, 225. call, the minutes of the convention, and
8 Ibid., 225-232, gives verbatim the the constitution adopted.
334 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
justify, however, its raison d'etre, it took a decisive stand with
regard to the matter of secrecy, resolved to make the name and
objects of the Order public, changed the ritual so that a member
of the Catholic Church might, " if he considers it his duty,"
confess to his father confessor, and decided in favour of incor-
porating the Order.
The Pittsburgh convention seemed to be satisfied after having
asserted itself, and adjourned with the intention of meeting in
Washington at a later date. The matter of effective national
organisation rested for over a year. It was brought again into
prominence by the great strikes of 1877 which taught the lesson
that a wage movement without a central organisation and a
strike fund was doomed to failure. Powderly contends that
the Order of the Knights of Labor as an organisation did not
join in precipitating these strikes, although members were em-
ployed in the industries involved. The Knights, on the con-
trary, aided in keeping the men from committing violence. He
also speaks of local assemblies in the coal fields striking without
the consent of their district assembly.^ This, of course, shows
that Knights of Labor were ofiicially involved, although the
district assembly was not consulted. But, even granting that
they were not involved officially, the fact alone that Knights as
individuals took part is sufficient to prove that they saw the
evil effects of lack of finances, a truth which was brought home
to them with particular strength when the miners of the Lacka-
wanna and Wyoming coal fields, strongholds of the Knights of
Labor, were starved into submission.
Added to this was the question of taking an attitude toward
the political labour movement which came immediately upon the
heels of the big strikes, and also toward the question of secrecy
which was still pressing for settlement. This time the two
rival district assemblies acted in unison, and District Assem-
bly 3 consented that District Assembly 1 should issue a call for
a convention to meet at Reading, January 1, 1878, " for the
purpose of forming a Central Assembly . . . and also for the
purpose of creating a Central Eesistance Fund, Bureau of Sta-
tistics, Providing Revenue for the work of Organisation, estab-
*P>id., 207-219.
KNIGHTS OF LABOH 335
lishment of an Official Register, giving number, place of meet-
ing of each assembly, etc. Also the subject of making the name
public. . . :'^
The convention at Reading finally achieved a central national
organisation of the Knights of Labor and adopted a preamble
and constitution, which, with minor changes, continued through-
out the existence of the Order. /
The delegates, who came from eleven district assemblies, while
thoroughly representative, were actually sent by about one-half
of the membership. Although, for unknown reasons District
Assembly 3 was not represented, all of its followers sent dele-
gates. The Order having worked secretly, it was difficult to
know of the existence of all affiliated bodies. In addition, a
considerable number did not have sufficient funds with which to
finance the expenses of representatives, while a third factor was
the scepticism of many as to the probable success of a national
body.
The jreanibl^-Xecites how " wealth," with its development,
has become so aggressive that " unless checked " it " will in-
evitably lead to the pauperisation and hopeless degradation of
the toiling masses." Hence, if the toilers are " to enjoy the
blessings of life " they must organise " every department of
prod.uctive industry " in order to ^' check " the power of wealth
and to put a stop to " unjust accumulation." The battle cry
in this fight must be *^ moral worth, not wealth, the true stand-
ard of individual and national greatness." As the " action "
of the toilers ought to be guided by " knowledge " it is neces-
sary to know " the true condition of the producing masses " ;
therefore the Order demands " from the various governments
the establishment of bureaus of labor statistics." 'Next in
order comes the " establishment of co-operative institutions pro-
ductive and distributive." Union of all trades, " education,"
and co-operation remained forever after the cardinal points in
the Knights of Labor philosophy and were steadily referred to
as the " First Principles," namely principles bequeathed to the
Order by Uriah Stephens and the other " Founders."
The preamble further provides that the Order will stand for
I 5 Ibid., 238.
336 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
the reservation of all lands for actual settlers ; the " abroga-
tion of all laws that do not bear equally upon capital and labor,
the removal of unjust technicalities, delays, and discriminations
in the administration of justice, and the adopting of measures
providing for the health and safety of those engaged in mining,
manufacturing, or building pursuits " ; the enactment of a
weekly pay law, mechanics' lien law, and a law prohibiting child
labour under fourteen years of age; the abolition of the con-
tract system on national, state, and municipal work, and of the
system of leasing out convicts; equal pay for equal work for
both sexes ; reduction of hours of labor to eight per day ; " the
substitution of arbitration for strikes, whenever and wherever
employers and employes are willing to meet on equitable
grounds " ; the establishment of " a purely national circulating
medium, based upon the faith and resources of the nation, and
issued directly to the people, without the intervention of any
system of banking corporations, which money shall be a legal
tender in payment of all debts, public or private."
This preamble, which now replaced the ritual as the formula
of its principles and demands, was practically verbatim the
declaration of principles of the Industrial Brotherhood in 1874.®
It had then been prepared by Kobert Schilling, who was now
a member of the committee on platform and resolutions. There
were, however, several planks on which the two platforms dif-
fered and these differences are very significant in determining
the philosophy of the Knights at this time. The preamble
totally omitted the plank of the Industrial Brotherhood, stating
that trade unions were effective " in regulating purely trade-
union matters," '^ but it cautioned them that their influence
^' upon all questions appertaining to the welfare of the masses
as a whole " must prove comparatively futile, without a closer
union. It omitted also the plank demanding the enactment of
apprenticeship laws. The reason for these omissions is obvious.
The Knights of Labor started out as the antithesis of the trade
unions in the form of organisation; and, similarly, it empha-
sised education, mutual aid, and co-operation rather than the
policy of restriction ; hence the negative attitude on apprentice-
6 Ibid, 243-246, See above, II, 164, 165.
7 Chicago Workingman'a Advocate, Apr. 24, 1875.
KNIGHTS OF LABOR 337
ship. This is explained in part also by the fact that the Order
gathered into its ranks workingmen largely of the semi-skilled
class to whom strict apprenticeship rules are of small conse-
quence. Another significant difference is the modification of
the money plank. While greenbackism was reaffirmed in prin-
ciple, the Kellogg scheme of interchangeable bonds and paper
money was omitted, reflecting the change that had taken place
with regard to this matter in the greenback movement of the
country. Other omissions were of less significance, namely, the
planks demanding " a system of public markets '' and systems
of cheap transportation. These omissions indicate the waning
influence of the Patrons of Husbandry.^
The constitution which was adopted provided for a highly
centralised form of organisation. Just as the district assembly
had absolute jurisdiction over its subordinate bodies, so the
General Assembly of the Knights of Labor of ITorth America,
as the national body was styled, was given " full and final juris-
diction," and was made " the highest tribunal " of the Order.
" It alone possesses the power and auj:hority to make, amend,
or repeal the fundamental and general laws and regulations of
the Order; to finally decide all controversies arising in the
Order; to issue all charters. ... It can also tax the members
of the Order for its maintenance." ^
The district assembly was made the highest tribunal within
its district, thus retaining its old function and powers, sub-
ordinate only to the General Assembly. The territory of a
district assembly and the nature of its membership were left
undefined, since there was no controversy on these matters at
the time.^^ Local assemblies were to be " composed of not less
than ten members at least three quarters of whom must be
wage-workers; and this proportion shall be maintained for all
time." ^^
The minimum initiation fee set at this time was 50 cents, and
any person over eighteen years of age " working for wages, or
who at any time worked for wages " could become a member.
However, ^' no person who either sells, or makes his living by
8 See above, II, 112. 10 Constitution of the District Assem-
9 Constitution of the General Assembly, bly, Art. I, Sec. 2, p. 35, in ibid.
in General Assembly, Proceedinga, 1878 n Constitution of the Local Assembly,
(Reading), Art. I, Sec. 2, p. 29. Art. I, Sec. 1, p. 36, in ibid.
338 HISTOEY OF LABOUK m THE UNITED STATES
the sale of, intoxicating drink, can be admitted, and no lawyer,
doctor or banker can be admitted." ^^
No provision was made at this time in the constitution as to
the body to which a local assembly owed its direct allegiance,
and we find later considerable anarchy, because local assemblies
were free to change affiliation at will. The clause allowing
non-wage workers to join was later a means of bringing in large
numbers of farmers, small merchants, and masters.
The matter of secrecy was discussed at a special convention
held in June, 1878, in Philadelphia. It was called expressly
for the purpose of considering the " expediency of making the
name of the Order public, for the purpose of defending it from
the fierce assaults and defamation made upon it by Press,
Clergy, and Corporate Capital, and to take such further action
as shall effectually meet with the grave emergency." ^^
Secrecy was thoroughly discussed, but a two-thirds vote could
not be raised ^* in favour of a resolution requiring the grand
master workman and the general secretary ^'^ to give to D. A.'s ^^
and to L. A.'s ^^ under the jurisdiction of the G. A.^'^ permis-
sion to make the name of the Order public, but only upon a
request made by a two-thirds vote of such body." -^^ It was
decided, however, to submit to a referendum vote of the mem-
bership the questions, among others, of making the name of the
Order public, and '^ of making such modifications in the initia-
tory exercises as will tend to remove the opposition coming from
the church." ^^ In the vote taken, the former question was de-
cided upon favourably by a majority of those voting, but a
majority of the locals were against making the name of the
Order public. The latter question was rejected by a majority
of both the votes and the locals. ^^
When a large number of the membership, the press, and the
church demanded a change, and when the enemies of the Order
libelled it because of its extreme secrecy, some action in the
way of modification was inevitable. Consequently, the Gen-
eral Assembly of 1879 decided that any district assembly might,
12 Ihid. 18 " Local Assemblies."
18 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1878 17 " General Assembly."
(Special session, Philadelphia), 40. 18 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1878
14 The vote stood 9 for and 6 against (Special session, Philadelphia), 42.
the resolution. Ibid., 42. 18 Ibid., 44.
16 District Assemblies. 20 Ibid., 1879 (St. Louis), 62, 63.
KNIGHTS OF LABOR 339
by a two-thirds vote, make the name of the Order public in its
own district only.^^ This was a compromise between those who
believed secrecy no longer necessary for the success of the Order,
and those who believed that " the veil of mystery was more
potent for good than the education of the masses in an open
organisation." ^^ However, the former insisted that making
the name of the Order public would lead to an increase in mem-
bership. The demand from those districts where the Catholic
Church was dominant was also insistent against complete se-
crecy. An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1880,^^ but in
1881 a resolution to make the name public throughout was car-
ried by a vote of 28 to 6.^^ The opposition this time came
again from those who believed in the educational value of
secrecy. The provision, however, was still retained which for-
bade members from revealing any of the secret work of the
assembly meetings, or from revealing " to any employer or
other person the name or person of any one a member of the
Order without permission of the member.'^ ^'^
The national organisation of the Knights of Labor did noth-
ing in the nature of aggressive activity until 1880. The dis-
trict assemblies, and, in the absence of these, the individual
local assemblies, took separate action on whatever policies they
saw fit. The sessions of the General Assembly in 18Y8 and
1879 were devoted, in the main, to perfecting the organisation
and threshing out the future policies of the Order. Strikes,
politics, and co-operatiQn were the prevailing issues, although
some of the coal districts urged the adoption of a beneficial fea-
ture, not agreeing as to whether it should be a sick benefit,
funeral, or burial, or all. The membership doubled during
these two years. At the end of 1878 it was 9,287,^® and at the
end of 1879 it was 20,15 1.^'^ Keference has already been made
to the enormous fluctuation in membership during the early
years of the Order,^^ but apparently the situation did not change
with national organisation. During the year October, 1879,
21 Jbtd., 75. ably printed in 1881), 13; also appears
22 Powderly, Thirty Tears of Labor, in Adelphon Kruptos (Toledo, Ohio,
660. 1891), 16,
23 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1880, 26 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1879
pp. 193, 229. (Chicago), 116, 117.
24 /bid., 1881, pp. 292, 305. 2T Ibid., 1880, pp. 214, 215.
ii Adelphon Kruptos (undated; prob- 28 See above, II, 199.
340 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
to October, 1880, although 18,104 members were initiated,
10,056 were suspended. ^^ The main cause for dissatisfaction
was the neglect of the Order to take up any particular line of
action. Naturally, financial response was slow.
In accordance with the call for the Heading convention, a
resistance fund was created, requiring each local " to set apart
. . . each Month, a sum equal to five cents each for every mem-
ber upon the books.'' ^^ This resolution was adopted without
opposition. When the question was raised as to what purpose
the fund should be put, there was much difference of opinion.
The committee appointed to draw up this part of the constitu-
tion took it for granted that the fund was to be used for strike
purposes only, and reported a clause embodying that view.^^
But a majority in the convention was opposed and believed that
the fund should either not be touched at all, or put to such uses
as co-operation,^^ propaganda, or mutual benefits.^ ^ It was
finally decided, after two and a half days' discussion, that the
resistance fund should remain intact for the space of two years
from January 1, 1878. After that time it should be held for
use and distribution under such laws and regulations as the
General Assembly might then adopt. ^*
The struggle during those two years, which includes three
regular sessions of the General Assembly, January, 1878 (Read-
ing), January, 1879 (St. Louis), and September, 1879 (Chi-
cago), centred around the disposition of the resistance fund.
One element that was either preparing for, or in the midst of,
a strike demanded that the fund be used for the support of
strikes alone; another element, either not being in a position
to start a strike,^^ or having gone through a disastrous one, de-
manded that the fund be appropriated either for co-operation or
educational purposes, or both. Then there was a sentiment in
favour of using the money for mutual benefit purposes, coming
mainly from coal communities where local assemblies were in
the habit of providing burial expenses, sick and death benefits.
29 Proceedings, 1880, pp. 214, 215. bly, Art. VIII, p. 32, in General Assem-
30 Constitution of the General Assem- bly, Proceedings, 1878 (Reading).
bly, Art, VIII, p. 32, in General Assem- 35 Because such elements were located
bly. Proceedings, 1878 (Reading). in an isolated community or composed of
31 Ibid., 11, 12, 14. artisans of various trades in small towns.
32 Ibid., 1879 (Chicago), 120, 130. As we shall see later, this element was on
33 Ibid., 106. the whole negligible during the succeeding
84 Constitution of the General Assem- period.
STRIKES OR BENEFITS? 841
There was also a distinct educational element, led, in the main,
by those who were active in politics, which held that it was
through ignorance that the wage-earners did not support work-
ingmen's tickets. An educational fund would enable the select
to educate the rest of the workingmen to stand for their rights.
Since the Order, at the time, was not involved in any single
important activity, the division of opinion was rather balanced,
and a compromise was struck when, in^l 8 8 0 , the resistance fund
was divided for the three purposes of strikes, co-operation, and
education. Within a year or two, however, when the Order
had plunged into numerous strikes, it was voted to use for their
support the money set aside for co-operation and education.
As two-thirds of the demands in the preamble could be se-
cured only through legislation, it is not surprising that the
question of politics should consume a large portion of the time
of each session. The attempt to commit the Order to political
action manifested itself in several ways. It was first brought
up at the session of January, 1879, when a resolution in favour
of independent political action as an organisation was de-
feated. ^^ It seems that a majority of the delegates favoured
such action, while nearly all wished for political action in some
form or another. The disagreement arose when it came to
indorsing a political party. Hence, to satisfy all, it was voted
that " local assemblies may take such political action in elec-
tions as shall be deemed by them best calculated to advance the
interests of the Order." ^"^
It seems that the response of local assemblies was not over-
enthusiastic, for, at the following session, a resolution was intro-
duced by the political actionists requiring local assemblies to
" use their political power in all legislative elections," and re-
iterating " that it is left to the discretion of each L. A. to act
with that Party in their vicinity, through which they can gain
the most." Precautionary measures were taken to prevent dis-
ruption by providing that ^' in no case should an Assembly take
political action in a campaign unless at least three-fourths of
the attending members are united in supporting such action," ^®
and that " no member shall, however, be compelled to vote with
36 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1879 37 Ibid., 57, 67.
(St. Louis), 49, 66. 38 Ibid., 1879 (Chicago), 120, 130.
342 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
the majority." Article X of the Constitution of the General
Assembly was also amended at this time, extending the privilege
of political action to district assemblies and requiring that when
" political action is contemplated the regular business of the
D. A. or L. A. shall be concluded, and the D. A. or L. A. regu-
larly closed ; and each Local in the D. A. and each member in
the L. A. must have received previous notification before the
proposed political action can be considered." *^
This permission for subordinate bodies to determine on their
own behalf which political party they should indorse, seemed
to satisfy the various elements. If in one locality the senti-
ment was in favour of indorsing the Socialist or Greenback
party, the assembly could do so without creating dissension in
other localities where the sentiment might be in favour of in-
dorsing individuals of either of the old parties. An attempt
was also made by the political actionists to establish state assem-
blies, and either to abolish district assemblies or to make them
subordinate to the state assembly. But this effort was not re-
warded with success at the time.^^
At the session of 18Y9 at St. Louis, the status of the local
assembly and the latitude which trade union matters were to
have, also received some further definition. The meaning of
" sojourners " was defined as persons " of one trade initiated
into an Assembly of another trade for the purpose of ultimately
forming an Assembly of their own. During the continuance of
their sojournership they are entitled to all the privileges of the
Order, on such terms as the By-Laws of the Assembly may pro-
vide." *i
At the session of 1879 another concession was made to the
trade union element by providing " that trades organised as
trades may select an executive officer of their own, who may
have charge of their organisation, and organise Local Assem-
blies of the trade in any part of the country, and attach them to
the D. A. controlling said trade . . . that trades so organised be
allowed to hold delegate conventions on matters pertaining to
their trades. . . ." ^^ This virtually meant that national trade
89 Constitution of the General Assem- ^o Proceedings, 1879 (St. Louis), 49,
bly, Art. X, p. 155, in General Assembly, 67.
Proceedinffs, 1679 (Chicago). *i Ibid., 69.
42 Ibid., 69, 72.
POLITICS 343
unions could be organised within the Order under the guise of
district assemblies.
The trade element at this time was confined to districts where
almost all were employed in the same industry, such as coal
mining, and hence a district trade organisation met the need.
The window-glass workers were the only members who had a
national trade organisation. The activity of the window-glass
workers in organising independent local assemblies in the terri-
tory of other district assemblies aroused the opposition of these
assemblies, and, at the following session, a resolution was intro-
duced not only forbidding the formation of national trade as-
semblies, but even compelling the dissolution of local trade as-
semblies, and requiring them thereafter to ^' admit workmen of
all trades, and transact business in the interest of aU trades
represented." *^
That part of the resolution which forbade the formation of
national trade assemblies was adopted without much opposition.
The second part of the resolution referring to local trade assem-
blies was refused adoption. Therefore, the status of local as-
semblies remained as before ; they could be either a mixed or a
trade assembly, but " must in all cases be subordinate to the
D. A. in whose territory they may be located, and all laws per-
mitting trade D. A.'s to interfere with the control of the other
D. A.'s over any L. A. in their district are hereby rescinded." *^
The window-glass workers, having a powerful trade union,
refused to abide by the decision of the Order. Hence special
dispensation was granted them to operate under the designation
of Local Assembly 300 as a national trade union. On the
other hand, weak trades which asked for a like privilege were
denied it. In succeeding periods, as each trade became more
conscious of its own problems, the struggle became intense, at
times exceedingly bitter, and finally an important factor in the
decline of the Knights of Labor.
With the advent of prosperity, the theoretical differences
which were formulated during 1878-1879, were soon put to a
practical test, although the Knights of Labor played but a sub-
ordinate part in the labour movement of the period of the early
eighties. The membership was 20,151 in 1879, 28,136 in 1880,
48 Ibid., 1879 (Chicago), 98. 4* Ibid., 139.
344 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
19,422 in 1881, 42,517 in 1882, 51,914 in 1883, showing a
steady and rapid growth, with the exception of the year 1881.
But these figures are decidedly deceptive as a means of measur-
ing the fighting strength of the Order, for the membership
fluctuated widely, so that in the year 1883, when it reached
50,000, no less than one-half of this number passed out of the
organisation.^^ The enormous fluctuation, while reducing the
economic strength of the Order, brought large masses of people
under its influence and prepared the ground for the upheaval
in the middle of the eighties. It also brought the Order to the
attention of the public press. The labour press gave the Order
great publicity, but the Knights did not rely on gratuitous news-
paper publicity. They set to work a host of lecturers, who held
public meetings throughout the country, adding recruits and
advertising the Order.
The membership figures indicate that the range of activity at
this time was primarily in the industrial centres. Only a few
of the organisers went in to the rural communities. The figures
for 1883,^^ analysed by States and by sections in each State,
warrant the conclusion that less than one-tenth of the member-
ship came from non-industrial sections. Another conclusion
that can be drawn is that the Order did very little actual organ-
ising. It endeavoured, instead, to gather together the various
unattached local unions that had sprung into existence, and
helped to resuscitate local unions that had been abandoned by
their own national trade unions. ^''^ Likewise, trades which felt
little outside competition, such as custom shoemakers, horse-car
drivers, and newspaper printers, found the local trade assembly
a convenient form of organisation. In large cities such trades
were allowed to organise district assemblies for the city and
vicinity, like District Assembly 64, embracing the printers of
46 The Boston DaUy Olobe speaks in 46 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1883,
1880 of the "terribly powerful but un- p. 527.
demonstrative " order of the Knights of 4T For instance, as in the case of the
Labor. In the fiscal year, 1880-1881, Detroit Stove Holders* Union, which, in
7,947 were initiated, and 10,552 were 1880 was "left in a demoralised condi-
suspended; 1881-1882, 23,415 were initi- tion . . . and yet no helping hand from
ated and 7,557 were suspended; 1882- the moulders' organisation was put out to
1883, 86,882 were initiated and 26,888 assist them," hence the Knights of Labor
were suspended. Suspension meant the stepped in, " established a price list and
dropping of a member from the roll for got them a trade agreement." Pittsburgh
a failure to pay dues. General Assembly, Journal of United Labor, July, 1880.
Proceedings, 1880, p. 215; 1881, p. 344;
1882, p. 391; 1888, p. 555. ., .
KNIGHTS AND PROSPERITY 346
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Jersey City, and vicinity. The miners
belonged to the same category. Trade assemblies on racial or
linguistic lines were also favoured by the Order, and many Ger-
man, French, and Italian workingmen took advantage of the
opportunity. In some localities and industries the workers
found it advantageous to organise their locals by shops, in others
by departments, and still in others by industries.
Likewise the Order helped to reorganise old national trade
unions which were too weak to do the work alone. A good
example is the old Knights of St. Crispin, which the Order
organised into trade districts.^* The case of the shoemakers
illustrates one of the most distinctive advantages in the form
of organisation of the Knights. In the old organisation of the
Crispins, the skilled custom shoemakers and the machine shoe-
makers, although their interests were distinct, belonged to the
same local unions. Now they could belong to different assem-
blies and yet be united in their district assembly. Another old
union aided by the Knights of Labor at this time was the
telegraphers. In 1882 a brotherhood of telegraphers existed in
the West, but, as it was too weak to organise the entire trade, it
joined the Order, which aided it in its undertaking.^^ There
were many other trades which were unable to secure organisa-
tion through a broad area without external assistance. In such
cases an appeal was made to the Knights of Labor and the
Order joyously came " to the rescue." Some of the trades thus
aided were the barbers, horse railway men, miners, railway men,
such as shop-men, freight handlers, axe makers, trunk makers,
hamessmakers. In 1882, the general secretary, in his annual
address, gave the attitude of trade unions towards the Knights
of Labor. " Many Trade Unions have also written me, stat-
ing that they were seriously meditating the propriety of coming
over to us in a body, freely expressing the opinion that their
proper place was in our Order." ^^ On the other hand, the
Order made overtures to the trade unions to affiliate themselves
48 In May, 1883, a St. Crispin from in our business are members of the Noble
Utica writes as follows: "We hold our Order. . . ." Philadelphia Journal of
local unions together for the good they United Labor, May, 1883, p. 469.
have done. But we are in hopes that all 49 McNeill, The Labor Movement : The
the benefits we derive in the future will Problem of To-day, 391.
come through the noble order of the 60 General Assembly, Proceedings,
Knights of Labor, as nearly all employed 1882, p. 298.
346 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
with it, assuring them " that as members of the Knights of La-
bor they could protect the interests of their trade just the same
as under their protective union, and at the same time receive
all the advantages of organisation and association with all other
branches of industry." ^^
The great benefit which an incipient trade movement de-
rived from affiliating with the Ejiights of Labor becomes ap-
parent when we consider the system of organising as practised
by the Order. The financial condition of the trade itself would
not permit the commissioning of organisers throughout the
country to gather in members. On the other hand, the Order
collectively, either through its national organisation, or through
its subordinate geographic unit, the district assembly, could
commission an organiser for all trades at the same time. In
this way it was not even necessary to pay a specified salary.
When an organiser was allowed to initiate all trades, the field
in any industrial locality was large enough for a man to make
a good living by receiving a small commission for each local
organised. This was impossible when a man was assigned to
organise one trade only, as he would find' barely more than
enough eligibles for one local at each stop. By allowing an or-
ganiser full sway among all trades, each community could easily
support two or more professional organisers without feeling the
burden. Generally these organisers were officers of the district
assembly, and they also rendered aid in case of labour difficul-
ties. Under this system, when the telegraphers sought to or-
ganise their trade, the only expense required was for stationery
and a circular letter to the various district assemblies dis-
tributed throughout North America. This trade was organised
at the same time under the auspices of District Assembly 53,
San Francisco, District Assembly 49, New York, District As-
sembly 17, St. Louis, District Assembly 24, Chicago, etc.
Another difficulty encountered by single national trade
unions was that of bringing into their fold " isolated workers in
localities where the number of those employed at such trade
was not sufficient to form a local body of their o\vn," or where,
for the time being, a sufficient number could not be interested.
If affiliated with the Knights of Labor, this difficulty was " ob-
61 Philadelphia Journal of United Labor, July, 1883, p. 520.
KNIGHTS AND PROSPERITY 34Y
viated," as they could join a mixed assembly until a sufficient
number was secured to organise a separate trade.^^ That this
was a practical difficulty encountered by national trade unions
is evident. The mixed assembly acting as a recruiting gi'ound
for the trades, supplied a need vitally felt. When afterwards
the rivalry grew intense between the Knights of Labor and the
American Federation of Labor, the latter organisation found
it important to provide for the federal labour union, — a local
union identical with a mixed assembly.
With all this extreme heterogeneity in composition, the exe-
cutive machinery of the Order ran singpj^hly. There was no^
change in officers except that the grand master workman, Uriah
Stephens, owing to his old age, found it advisable to retire in
favour of a younger and more active man. Through his recom-
mendation, Terence V. Powderly,^^ active member of the Ma-
chinists' and Blacksmiths' Union during the early seventies and
consequently a lineal descendant of the labour movement of
that period, was chosen in his place. Powderly had also been
elected mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on a labour ticket
in 1878, when the political labour movement swept over the
entire country. The stamp of the sixties was unmistakably
visible on Powderly throughout his entire career as the fore-
most labour leader in the country. Unlike Gompers, who came
to supplant him before the public mind at a later date, he was
foreign to the spirit of wage-consciousness. He was more
closely akin to William H. Sylvis, who advocated trade union
action as a mere preparation for co-operation. Herein, per-
haps, lies the explanation of Powderly's sensitiveness to public
opinion, as against Gompers' reliance solely on wage-earners.
The contest for office was not very acute, yet the Order was
on a sound financial basis, and paid an annual salary of $750
to the general secretary.
The principal activity of the Knights of Labor during this
period^ consisted in conducting strikes. These strikes did not
differ in nature from those of the trade unions. They were iiot,
general strikes but each trade struck separately for better con-
ditions of employment. The General Assembly of 1880 ex-
pressed itself in favour of strikes by voting to set aside 30 per
62 Ibid. ' 63 See above, II, 245, note.
348 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
cent of the Resistance Fund for their support.^^ This was done
notwithstanding the exhortation of the leaders to use the fund
for co-operation and not to encourage strikes by their support.^^
The whole Order seems to have plunged into strikes.^^ Even
the mother district assembly, the one from which emanated all
the inspiration and noble co-operative ideals of the Order, was
itself caught in the whirl of pure strike action. District Master
Workman Thompson in his report of District Assembly 1,
writes : ^^ I am sorry to say that I found very few of the
principles of our Order in practice. In fact, there seems to be
a general ignorance, or disregard of the principles of our or-
ganisation. The older ideas of former trade organisations seem
to predominate and control the actions of the locals gener-
ally.'' ''
The most important Knights of Labor strike of this period
wafe doubtless the telegraphers' strike in 1883. The teleg-
raphers had a national organisation in 1870, which soon col-
lapsed. In 1882 they again organised on a national basis and
affiliated with the Order as District Assembly 45. The strike
was declared on June 19, 1883, against all commercial tele-
graph companies in the country, among which the Western
Union, with about 4,000 operators, was by far the largest.
The demands were one day's rest in seven, an eight-hour day
shift and a seven-hour night shift, and a general increase of
15 per cent in wages. The public and a large portion of the
press gave their sympathy to the strikers, not so much on ac-
count of the oppressed condition of the telegTaphers as of the
general hatred that prevailed against Jay Gould, who controlled
the Western Union Company. This strike was the first in the
eighties to call the attention of the general American public to
the existence of a labour question, and received considerable
attention at the hands of the Senate Committee on Education
and Labor.^® By the end of July, over a month after the be-
ginning of the strike, the men who escaped the blacklist went
back to work on the old terms.
64 General Assembly, Proceedings, 8T Ibid., May, 1881, p. 117.
1880, p. 246. 68 Senate Committee on Education and
66 75td., 172. Labor, 1885, I, 102, 109, 892, 896; and
66 Philadelphia Journal of United La- II, 49. 52.
bor, June, 1882.
STRIKES 349
During 1882 there occurred a considerable number of unor-
ganised strikes of unskilled and semi-skilled workmen, akin to
the usual Knights of Labor strikes. A few succeeded, like
the brick-makers' strike for higher wages in Chicago and
vicinity, which tied up all building operations in the city for
several weeks. But the gi-eater number of them failed. The
tanners and curriers in Chicago lost their strike, after standing
out for seventy-two days.^^
The freight-handlers' strike on the railroads centring in ^ew
York City, which occurred in the summer of 1882, was an un-
organised strike of a similar nature. The men demanded an
advance from 17 cents to 20 cents per hour, and, as the rail-
ways had recently declared an advance on freight going west,
the public sympathised with the strikers. On July 17 an appli-
cation was made to the court, accompanied by affidavits of mer-
chants, shippers, and strikers, for a writ of mandamus against
the K'ew York Central & Hudson Eiver and the New York,
Lake Erie & Western Railroads, ordering them to perform their
duties as common carriers with all reasonable despatch. The
railways, operating with inexperienced strike-breakers, had
allowed a large amount of freight to accumulate at the New
York terminals. But even before the court had handed down
a decision denying the writ, the railways secured a sufficient
number of competent strike-breakers, and the strike collapsed. uj^J^
The strikes of the Knights of Labor were failures in the mm
large majority of cases. Two principal conditions conspired
to bring this result. First, the Order operated mainly among(^
the unorganised and the unskilled, an element which had no
previous experience in the management of strikes and could
easily be replaced by strike-breakers. Secondj^ Jhe^fonn of ,.
orffanisationjof the Knights, well adapted as it was to strikes
on a large scale and to extensive boycotts, displayed an inherent
weakness when it came to a strike of the members of a single
trade against their employers. Such a strike soon becomes a
test^of organisation and of discipline, qualities which a mixed *"
organisation like the district assembly of the Knights could not
hope to possess in the same degree as a national trade union.
The dominant reason for the fluctuation of membership dur-
BO Illinois Bureau of Labor, Report, 1882, pp. 260-?85,
^-^
350 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ing this period was the numerous failures in strikes. After a
lost strike the employers would persecute the leaders as well as
the common strikers through the blacklist, and those who re-
mained were compelled to sign the " iron-clad," and were con-
stantly spied upon.^*^ Thus District Assembly 45, the national
organisation of telegraphers with a membership of 3,561,
dropped out of the Order after its unsuccessful strike of 1883.^^
Similarly, in the coal regions, entire district assemblies lapsed
after a strike, such as District Assembly 33, Illinois.^ ^ jf
whole district assemblies suffered as a result of strikes, very
naturally for a like reason scores of locals lapsed.
Other locals and districts suffered in conflict with the em-
ployers, even without a strike. Some were detected while in
process of organisation, and, through spies and threats, were
forced to disband. The horse railway men of 'Norn York City
suffered this fate. In 1883 they had an organisation of 600
men, but were reduced during this year to 13.^^
Of course, the extreme strike policy adopted by the Order
was not carried out without considerable opposition from within.
This opposition consisted in part of the disappointed strikers,
but it came mainly from the non-wage-eaming element who de-
sired that the Order should engage in greenbackism, socialism,
anarchism, land reform, or co-operation, depending upon which
school of thought the critic happened to represent. The green-
backers tried to secure an indorsement for their principles, but
failed.^^ The land reformers asked for the adoption of a plank
abolishing the " private and corporate ownership in land," but
received no encouragement.^^ The co-operationists did their
utmost to commit the Order to some definite co-operative policy,
productive or distributive. They, too, were disappointed.®^
Nearly all of these reform elements combined in committing
the Order indirectly to ideas or actions antagonistic to the pre-
vailing trade union policy. In this they were but partially
successful. Beginning with 1881, at every session an attempt
was made to create state assemblies, some of the more radical
80 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1881, 64 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1880,
p. 290; 1883, p. 505. p. 194; 1881, p. 309.
61 Ibid., 1883, p. 528; 1884, p. 796. 65 /bid., 1883, pp. 466, 499.
62 /bid.. 1881, p. 333; 1882, p. 373. 66 /bid., 1880, pp. 193, 196; X881, pp.
68 McNeill. The Labor Movement: The 299. 300.
Problem '** To-day, 383.
STEIKES VERSUS CO-OPERATION 351
advocating the substitution of state assemblies for district assem-
blies, or the organisation of district assemblies on congressional
lines. But all resolutions to this effect were defeated.^^ A
resolution was also rejected calling upon members of the Order
to " draw up petitions stating their grievances and present them
to their respective Representatives in Congress.'' ^^ At this
same session the General Assembly refused to adopt a resolu-
tion that steps ^^ be taken by the various labor organisations
to secure united action at the ballot, and favoring a conven-
tion of delegates from each labor organisation to draft a plat-
form." ^® Undoubtedly there existed a strong trend in favour
of political action, but the wage-earners, who constituted the
majority, looked keenly toward protective legislation, such as
anti-prison labour laws, laws abolishing the truck-order system,
prohibiting child labour, etc., and felt but lukewarm toward
land reform or greenbaokism ; moreover, they expected to secure
the desired legislation through non-partisan political action.
The position taken by the general officers is characteristic.
In theory they doubtless were opposed to the deviation from
^' first principles " and favoured co-operation as against strikes.
In 1881 the General Executive Board took it upon itself to
insert into the constitution a compulsory article on co-opera-
tion.'''^ Yet in practical matters they felt obliged to follow
the strike element and in 1883 Powderly was obliged to ac-
knowledge that the strikes, and not co-operation, were respons-
ible for the growth of the Order. The difference between theory
and practice had a beneficent influence upon the integrity of
the Order since it kept both elements satisfied. With respect
to political action, Powderly reports that he aided both Re-
publicans and Democrats in his locality, his criterion being that
the good man was one who would work for the interest of
labour."^ ^
This position did not hinder several local organisations in
&T Ibid., 1881, p, 292. The board took it upon itself to insert a
68 Ibid., 1883, p. 503. compulsory article on co-operation (Gon-
69 Ibid., 1883, pp. 463, 508. atitution (1881), Art. VIII), levying upon
70 The resolutions presented at the ses- each male member a sum of 10 cents, and
fiion of 1881 were of such magnitude that 5 cents for each female. Powderly, Thirty
the convention authorised the General Tears of Labor, 463—465.
Executive Board to " compile and prepare 71 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1883,
the constitution," without any definite in- p. 407.
s*ructions on some important subjects.
352 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
the West from running independent labour candidates, as it
did not prevent the locals in mill to^vns in Massachusetts and
the miners in Kansas, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio from em-
barking upon distributive and productive co-operation. Co-op-
eration increased its following tremendously in 1883, as depres-
sion was setting in and strikes were proving to be failures.
Most of these ventures were either merchandise stores or coal
shafts, very little capital being required in opening a shaft."^^
Likwise, a strong demand for independent political action arose
with the depression, which resulted in a multiplication of the
local political attempts.
But while the opposition clamouring for a return to " first
principles " was thus successfully put down within the Order,
the same cry was heard from a different quarter. The growth
of the Knights of Labor, which set out to bring together into
one organisation all " productive labor," naturally looked dis-
concerting to the national trade unions. As yet the trade unions
were not greatly menaced by the expansion of the Order.*^^
It is true, the Order w^as organising cigar makers, printers,
moulders, etc., but these generally were elements which the
trade unions w^ere either not desirous to get, such as semi-
skilled workmen and machine operators, or isolated mechanics
in small localities whom they were unable to reach. Besides,
hardly any of the trade unions could as yet claim considerable
shop control, so that rivalry for employment, which lies at the
basis of acute rivalry between organisations, had not as yet
arisen. This probably accounts for the conciliatory and in-
direct methods of the trade unions. The policy pursued was
to praise the Order for the good educational work it was doing
among the working people which was '^ the original object of
the Order," and to caution it that stepping out of its legitimate
bounds might prove fatal and impair its efficiency in its edu-
cational work. The following quotation from the National
Labor Tribune, at this time the exponent of the national trade
unions, gives their attitude very clearly : '^^
72 Philadelphia Journal of United La- issued to moulders. Most likely the lat-
bor, November, 1882, p. 337. ter were machine moulders whom the
73 A recorded instance of actual con- union was not eager to admit. General
flict during this period was the refusal in Assembly, Proceedings, 1880, p. 198.
1880 by the Iron Holders' International 74 Pittsburgh National Labor Tribune,
Union to recognise Knights of Labor cards July 7, 1883.
PHILOSOPHIES 353
" It is well known that the Knights of Labor was not instituted
with the view to action in the matter of regulating wages. The
objects included education, the bettering of the material condition of
the members by means of such schemes as co-operation, etc., and the
elevation of labor by legislation through political action, but not
taken, however, in a partisan way. The plan of the organisation
did not include the management of strikes or aught else pertaining
to wages and terms of labor, and it is not surprising, therefore, that
the machinery has not proven equal to those occasions, when the
Knights went outside of their original objects. It would be a bless-
ing to all concerned if the Knights of Labor shall resolve to return
to first principles and devote undivided attention thereto . . . lest
all the labor be lost by being spread over too large an area.
" The coalescence of the respective trades by the organisation of
the assemblies of each into its own union, and the representation of
these bodies in a congress of the trades, would be an organisation in
an effectively handleable condition — ■ one that could take cognisance
with the best results of wages and terms of labor."
Yet the feeling of animosity betv^een the two great branches
of the labour movement remained in abeyance until the labour
upheaval of the middle of the decade.
If, now, we summarise our account of the confused and al-
most unnoticed struggles of labour organisations in the latter
part of the seventies and the first part of the eighties, we shall
find a real inheritance bequeathed to the succeeding years, the
years of the Great Upheaval.
First of all, the bequest was intellectual rather than material.
It consisted more of ideas than of organisations. The Order of
the Knights of Labor, the Federation of Organised Trades and
Labor Unions, and even the thirty or so national trade unions
in existence in 1884, were in reality mere frameworks for fu-
ture building. The intellectual accumulation during the
period was, however, of exceedingly great importance. It
was a period of theoretical differentiation and classification
in respect to both general philosophies and practical meth-
ods.
A$ to philosophies, the half wage-conscious and half middle-
class philosophy of the trade unionism of the sixties was en-
tirely absent from the new trade union movement which started
towards the end of the seventies. Yet that philosophy was pre-
served simon-pure in the Order of the Knights of Labor, whicli
354 HISTOKY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
can be looked upon as the direct heir and successor to the union-
ism of Sylvis, Trevellick, and Cameron. The aspiring me-
chanic of the trade unions of the sixties had transmitted his
faith in voluntary co-operation, social reform, and politics to
the humbler and machine-menaced member of the Knights of
Labor. But the new trade unionism got, in place of the lost
philosophy, the wage-consciousness of Marx and the Interna-
tional, purged of its socialist ingredients.
Socialism had also undergone an evolution. Starting out
with the trade union philosophy of the International of 1864,
it successfully endured a brief but painful period of attempted
inoculation with the " isms " of native American reformers of
the intellectual class, only to be overcome later by the " politics-
first " philosophy of Lassalleanism. Out of the strife and tur-
moil of factional struggle, the small group of Americanised In-
ternationalists in the East withdrew to build up a potent trade
union movement upon the basis of a wage-conscious but non-
socialistic philosophy. Another group of Internationalists,
much larger but also much more foreign-minded, with its centre
in Chicago, remained true to socialism throughout all of its
political vicissitudes, to begin, however, at the end of the decade
a rapid evolution towards ^' syndicalism," or anarchistic trade
unionism.
As to methods. The trade unions of the sixties had made
their appeal exclusively to the skilled man, and they succeeded
in time of prosperity. Their disintegration during the years
of depression in the seventies reduced the skilled man to prac-
tically the same position as that of the unskilled, so that hence-
forth the appeal to organise was extended to him also. Al-
though the wage-conscious and semi-socialistic appeal of the
International Labor Union to the unskilled ended in failure,
the Knights of Labor succeeded in accomplishing in the eigh-
ties what McDonnell and Sorge had failed to do in the seven-
ties. But the new trade unions, like those of the sixties, re-
stricted their appeal to the skilled mechanics. The experience
of the seventies taught them to eschew politics, but in the
Knights of Labor every political movement started by work-
men or farmers was sure to find a warm response.
PEOSPEEITY 356
The working out of these theoretical and tactical lessons of
1876-1883, during the stirring events of 1884-1887, will bring
us to the clear-cut divisions of what may be called the modern
labour movement of the end of the century.
CHAPTER IX
THE GREAT UPHEAVAL, 1884-1886
New Economic Conditions. The difference between the labour move-
ments in the early and the middle eighties, 357. The unskilled, 357.
Extension of the railways into the outlying districts, 358. Resultant in-
tensification of competition among mechanics, 358. Industrial expansion,
358. Growth of cities, 359, Extension of the market and the supremacy
of the wholesale jobber, 359. Impossibility of trade agreements, 359.
Pools, 360. Immigration, 360. The exhaustion of the public domain, 300.
Peculiarities of the depression, 1883-1885, 361. Reduction in wages, 361.
Effect of the depression on the other economic classes, 362. The anti-
monopoly slogan, 362.
Strikes and Boycotts, 1884-1885. Fall River spinners' strike, 362. Troy
stove mounters' strike, 363. The Cincinnati cigar makers' strike, 363.
Hocking Valley coal miners' strike, 363. The vogue of the boycott, 364.
Extremes in boycotting, 365. Boycott statistics, 1884-1885, 365. Re-
sumption of the strike movement, 366. The Saginaw Valley, Michigan,
strike, 366. Quarrymen's strike in Illinois, 367. Other strikes, 367. Shop-
men's strikes on the Union Pacific in 1884, and the Knights of Labor, 367.
Joseph R. Buchanan, 367. The Gould railway strike in 1885, 368.
Gould's surrender, 369. Its enormous moral effect, 370. The general press
and the Order, 370. Keen public interest in the Order, 370. The New
York Sun " story," 371. Effect on Congress, 372. The contract immigrant
labour evil, 372. Situation in the glass-blowing industry, 372. The Knights
and the anti-contract labour law, 373. " The Knights of Labor — the
liberator of the oppressed," 373. Beginning of the upheaval, 373. Un-
restrained class hatred, 374. Labour's refusal to arbitrate disputes, 374.
Readiness to commit violence, 374.
The Eight-Hour Issue and the Strike. Growth of trade unions, 375.
New trade unions formed, 1884-1885, 375. Convention of the Federation of
Organized Trades and Labor Unions, in 1884, 376. The eight-hour issue,
376. Invitation to the Knights to co-operate, 377. Referendum vote by the
affiliated organisations, 377. Advantage to the trade unions from the eight-
hour issue, 378. Lukewarmness of the national leaders of the Knights, 378.
Powderly's attitude, 378. Enthusiasm of the rank and file, 379. Pecuniary
interest of the Order's organisers in furthering the eight-hour agi-
tation, 380. Marvellous increase in the membership of the Knights, 381.
Membership statistics for various States, 381. Racial composition, 382.
Composition by trades, 382. The pace of organisation in Illinois by
months, 382. The Southwest railway strike, 383. Its cause, 383. Its un-
usual violence, 383. Its failure, 384. The eight-hour strike, 384. Degree
of its immediate success, 384. Its ultimate failure, 385. Unequal prestige
of the Knights and the trade unions as a result of the strike, 385,
The Chicago Catastrophe. Effect of the Haymarket bomb on the eight-
356
PROSPEEITY 357
hour strike, 386. Spread of the " syndicalist " influence among the German
trade unions in 1884, 387. Formation of the Central Labor Union, 387.
Its relation to the " syndicalists," 387. Its declaration of principles, 388.
Relation of individual trade unions to the " syndicalists " in Chicago and
St. Louis, 388. Agitation among the English-speaking element, 389. The
Alarm, 389, Strength of the Black International in Chicago and elsewhere,
390, Attitude of the Chicago Central Labor Union towards the eight-hour
movement, 39 L The Eight- Hour Association of Chicago, 391. The Mc-
Cormick Reaper Company lockout, 392. Beginning of the eight-hour strike
in Chicago, 392. Riot near the McCormick works, 392. The " revenge cir-
cular," 392. Meeting of protest on Haymarket Square, 393. The bomb,
393. The trial, 393. Attitude of the labour organisations, 394, Governor
Altgeld's Reasons for Pardoning Fielden, et al., 393, Judge Gary's reply,
393.
NEW ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
The organisation of labour during the early eighties was
typical of a period of rising prices. It was practically re-
stricted to skilled workmen, who organised to wrest from em-
ployers still better conditions than those which prosperity would
have given under individual bargaining. The movement was
essentially opportunistic and displayed no particular class feel-
ing and no revolutionary tendencies. The solidarity of labour
was not denied by the trade unions, but they did not try to re-
duce it to practice: each trade coped more or less successfully
with its own employers. Even the Knights of Labor, the or-
ganisation par excellence of the solidarity of labour, was at this
time, in so far as practical efforts went, merely a faint replica
of the trade unions.
The situation radically changed during the depression of
1884-1885. The unskilled and the semi-skilled, affected as
they were by wage reductions and unemployment even in a
larger measure than the skilled, were drawn into the movement.
Labour organisations assumed the nature of a real class move-
ment. The idea of the solidarity of labour ceased to be merely
verbal, and took on flesh and life; general strikes, sympathetic
strikes, nation-wide boycotts, and nation-wide political move-
ments became the order of the day. Although the upheaval
came with the depression, it was the product of permanent and
far-reaching economic changes which had taken place during
the seventies and the early eighties.
The sixties had witnessed the first creation of a national
358 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
market, resulting from the consolidation of the principal rail-
way lines into trunk lines and the opening up of transconti-
nental railway communication. The financial panic of 1873
put an end to rapid railway building, but nevertheless the total
mileage constructed during the seventies amounted to 41,000.
When we analyse the character of this construction, we discover
that, while during the previous decade the large cities alone had
become connected by railways, during the seventies railway
communication was extended to a considerable number of smal-
ler cities and towns in New England, the Middle States, and
the Middle Western States. The 1,829 miles built in New
England represented, in the main, short extensions, branches,
or local roads; of the 11,492 miles constructed in New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Maryland, Delaware,
New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, at least 7,000 went
into short local roads or short extensions, and only about 3,000
into distinctly new roads. In the Southern States the new
mileage was approximately 4,000. But the heaviest construc-
tion of the decade was in the Western States, where the railway
opened up new regions for agricultural settlement.-^ The rail-
way building in the seventies, therefore, operated both to bring
the mechanics of the small towns into more direct competition
with the machine production of the industrial centres, and to
create for the latter an additional market in the new regions
of the West.
The eighties were years of marvellous industrial expansion.
For instance, Bradstreefs ^ estimates that one-tenth more wage-
earners were employed in 1882 than during the census year of
1880. The dominant feature was the introduction of ma-
chinery upon an unprecedented scale.^ Indeed, the factory
system of production, for the first time, became general during
the eighties. This is amply attested by the remarkable de-
velopment in the production of machinery. In foundries and
machine-shops the total capital invested increased two and a
half times between 1880 and 1890. At the same time the aver-
1 Ringwalt, Development of Traruporta- creased from an annual average of about
tion Systems in the United States, 222- 13,000 for the seventies to about 21,000
224. for the eighties. Statistical Abstract of
2 Dec. 20, 1884. the United States, 1915, p. 705.
3 Th9 number of patents issued in-
PKOSPERITY 359
age investment increased twofold for each establishment and
50 per cent for each employe.*
The factory system led to a large increase in the class of un-
skilled and semi-skilled labour, with inferior bargaining power.
Accompanying this was the shifting of population from country
to city. During the seventies the increase of 11,600,000 in the
total population had raised the ratio of dwellers in cities having
over 8,000 inhabitants 1.6 per cent.^ On the other hand, dur-
ing the eighties an increase of 12,500,000 brought up the
ratio 6.6 per cent.*^ But there was still another change which
added to the downward pressure on wages.
The wide areas over which manufactured products were now
to be distributed called, more than ever before, for the services
of the wholesaler. As the market extended, he sent out his
travelling men, established business connections, and adver-
tised the articles which bore his special trademark. His con-
trol of the market opened up credit with the banks, while the
manufacturer, who with the exception of his patents, possessed
only physical capital and no market opportunities, found it
difficult to obtain credit. Moreover, the rapid introduction
of machinery tied up all of his available capital and forced him
to turn his products into money as rapidly as possible, with
the inevitable result that the merchant had an enormous bar-
gaining advantage over him. Had the extension of the market
and the introduction of machinery proceeded at a less rapid
pace, the manufacturer probably would have been able to obtain
greater control over market opportunities. Also the larger
credit which this would have given him, combined with the
accumulation of his own capital, might have been sufficient to
meet his needs. However, as the situation really developed, the
jobber obtained a much superior bargaining power, and by
playing off the competing manufacturers one against another,
produced a cutthroat competition, low prices, low profits, and
consequently a steady and insistent pressure upon wages.'''
The manufacturers, on their part, frequently sought to
4 U. S. Cenaus, 1890, Compendium, Pt. 7 A description of the functions of the
iii, 672-685. wholesale jobber and a few historical
B From 20.93 per cent to 22,57 per cent. glimpses may be found in J. H. Ritter,
U. S. Census, 1890, I, p. Ixv. " Present Day Jobbing," in Annals of the
6 Prom 22.57 per cent to 29.20 per American Academy of Political and So-
cent. Ibid. cial Science, 1903, XXII, 451.
360 HISTOEY OF LABOUK IN THE UNITED STATES
remedy the situation by combinations. The eighties were es-
sentially a period of industrial pools. Henry D. Lloyd, who
was first to raise in a forcible way a warning voice against the
progress of monopoly in this country, enumerated, in 1884,
pools in lumber, slaughtering and packing (in buying cattle),
in bituminous coal mining, coke coal mining, stove manufactur-
ing, matches, wall paper, crackers, burial cases, nails, barbed
wire, pig iron, cotton fabrics (in the South), whiskey, and
many others^ besides the well-established monopolies in an-
thracite mining and oil refining.^
These pools, while they temporarily brought high profits,
were constantly breaking up, but usually they were renewed
after periods of cutthroat competition, so that they were an
influence making for instability and insecurity. The bearing
of this fact upon the labour situation becomes obvious when we
take into account the basis of the trade agreement. No fixed
agreement can survive for any length of time when prices are
fixed alternately by combination and by cutthroat competi-
tion.
Other factors aggravating the situation were an unusually
large immigration and th-e exhaustion of the public domain.
The eighties were the banner decade of the entire century for
immigration. The aggregate number of immigrants arriving
was 5,246,613 ; two and a half millions larger than during the
seventies and one million and a half larger than during the
nineties. The eighties also witnessed the highest tide of immi-
gration from Great Britain and the North of Europe and the
beginnings of the tide of South and East European immigra-
tion.®
Simultaneously with the stocking up of the labour market by
a record-breaking immigration, settlers were moving into the
last unoccupied portion of the public domain. In a bulletin
of the census for 1890 appear the following significant words :
" Up to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settle-
ment, but at present the unsettled area has so been broken into
8 Lloyd, " Lords of Industry," in iV^orf/i from British North America, 392,802;
American Review (1884), OXXXVIII, from Austria, 353,719; from Italy, 307,-
536-553. 309; and from Russia, 265,088. Statis-
©The number arriving from Great Brit- tical Abstract of the United States, 1915,
ain was 1,462,839; from Germany, 1,452,- pp. 90, 91.
970; from Norway and Sweden, 568,362;
DEPEESSION 361
by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said
to be a frontier line. In the discussion of its extent and its
westward movement it cannot, therefore, any longer have a
place in the census reports." ^^ American labour v/as now
permanently shut up in the wage system.
N^aturally, the depression of 1883-1885 made conditions still
more unfavourable. However, it had one redeeming feature
by which it was distinguished from other depressions. In the
words of the report issued by the Federal Commissioner of
Labor, " there has been a constant diminishing of profits until
many industries have been conducted with little or no margin
to those managing them, and a great lowering of wages in gen-
eral . . . [but], on the whole, the volume of business of the
country during the depressed period has been fairly satis-
factory." ^^ The report placed the unemployment in manu-
facturing and mining at an average of 7.5 per cent during 1885
and, on this basis, estimated the total number of unemployed
at about 168,750.^2
Though the amount of unemployment was relatively small,
reductions in wages were considerable. Bradstreet's made an
inquiry concerning wages in the beginning of 1885, and found
that they had been cut 15 per cent on the average, ranging all
the way from 40 per cent in coal mining to a very low percent-
age in the building trades. ^^ In the words of Bradstreet's,
" among industrial wage-earners reductions in wages have been
gi-eatest where there have been no industrial organisations or
weak ones. Where trade unionism is strongest contract rates
and united resistance have combined to retard the downward
tendency of wages." -^^
Times continued hard during 1885, a slight improvement
showing itself only during the last months of the year. The
years 1886 and 1887 were a period of gradual recovery, and
normal conditions may be said to have returned about the
middle of 1887. Except in ISTew England, the old wages were
won again by the spring of 1887.^^
But the wage-earners and employers were not the only suf-
10 U. S. Census, 1890, Compendium, 12 Ibid., 65.
Pt. i, XLVIII. 13 Bradstreet's, Mar. 14, 1885.
11 Bureau of Labor, First Annual Re- 14 Ibid., Dec. 20, 1884.
p&it. Industrial Depression, 75. 15 Ibid., Apr. 9, 1887.
362 HISTOEY OF LABOUK IN THE UNITED STATES
ferers. The agricultural classes, farm owners, tenant farmers,
and farm labourers, also had their grievances. A large number
of farmers suffered from exorbitant railroad charges or high
interest rates on mortgages or low prices. These grievances
affected especially the eastern and middle western farmers,
while the tenant farmer in addition suffered from high rent and
felt that his chances of becoming a farm proprietor were being
diminished. As a result, the merchant found that his trade
was decreased and that his earnings were reduced. Since all
" producing classes " felt discontented, it is not surprising that
they all readily responded when in 1886, the Order of the
Knights of Labor directed its efforts to organise the '^ indus-
trial masses " against ^' monopoly " in order ^^ to prevent the
benefits being monopolised by the few, and to secure for each
member of society a full and just share of the wealth created by
the labour of his hands." ^^
In other words, the activity of the Knights, after the begin-
ning of the depression, marked the awakening of all democratic
elements in society and their uniting in a common effort to
combat plutocracy. The different groups used different means.
The mechanic experimented with productive co-operation, the
farmers, small employers, and merchants worked for legisla-
tion, and the unskilled and semi-skilled wage-earners in com-
mon with the mechanics took up strikes and boycotts. But a
common sentiment animated them all — the sentiment of the
struggle against monopoly.
STRIKES AND BOYCOTTS, 1884-1885
The year 1884 was one of decisive failure in strikes. They
were practically all directed against reductions in wages and
for the right of organisation. The most conspicuous strikes
were those of the Fall River spinners, the Troy stove mounters,
the Cincinnati cigar makers and the Hocking Valley miners. ^'^
The Fall River strike against a reduction in wages affected
16 Philadelphia Journal of United La- plumbers, the New York bricklayers and
hor, Feb. 25, 1886, labourers, the New York brown stonecut-
17 The other strikes of importance dur- ters, the Colorado coal miners, the Pitts-
ing 1884 were: the Pittsburgh and Cin- burgh miners, the Philadelphia carpet
cinnati moulders, the Troy and Albany weavers, the Philadelphia shoemakers, the
stove moulders, the BuflFalo bricklayers. South Norwalk hatters, and the New Or-
the Buffalo 'longshoremen, the New York leans car drivers.
STEIKES 363
over 5,000 spinners and other operatives in 10 cotton mills.
After eighteen weeks it was defeated in June through the re-
placement of the strikers by Swedish strike-breakers. Fifty-
men were blacklisted, including Eobert Howard, the secretary
of the spinners' union and also secretary-treasurer of the Federa-
tion of Organised Trades and Labor Unions of the United
States and Canada. ^^
The strike of the Troy stove mounters, to which John Swin-
ton referred in an editorial as ^' the most important strike in
this part of the country,'' ^^ resulted from the attempt of the
United Stove Manufacturers' Association of that city to reduce
wages 20 per cent and to compel the men to desert the union.
Four hundred men were on strike from May until September,
but in the end, notwithstanding the general support from labour
organisations throughout the country, they succumbed and dis-
banded their union. ^^
The largest expenditure of money ever made up to this time
by a labour organisation in a controversy with the employers
was that of the Cigar Makers' International Union in a lock-
out in Cincinnati from March, 1884 to April, 1885. The union
expended up to ;^^ovember, 1884, $140,000 in strike benefits.
ISTevertheless, it was defeated. ^^
But the strike which attracted the widest attention in labour
circles as well as in the public press during 1884 was the famous
strike of the coal miners in the Hocking Valley, Ohio. The
ownership of the great majority of the mines in the Valley had
been consolidated in 1883 in the hands of two companies, the
Columbia and Hocking Coal Company, and the Ohio Coal Ex-
change, which had thus obtained the power to fix an arbitrary
rate of wages. The western market for Hocking Valley coal
began to be seriously threatened by the competition of the
Pittsburgh operators and at the same time the shutdown of the
local iron blast furnaces practically destroyed the local market.
The companies, therefore, proposed to reduce the already meagre
wages of the miners 10 cents per ton. The offer was indig-
nantly refused and the Ohio State Miners' Union, of which
18 Howard, "Letter," in John Swin- 20 Ibid.; also Aug. 24, 1884,
ton's Paper, June 22, 1884. 21 Ibid., Nov, 16, 1884.
19 John Swinton's Paper, July 13,
1884.
364 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
John McBride was president, ordered the miners, nearly 4,000
in number, out on strike, June 22, 1884. Thereupon the
companies adopted a rigid policy of opposition. The offered
rate of wages was lowered another 10 cents to 50 cents per ton,
and a return to work was made conditional upon the signing of
an iron-clad contract abjuring membership in the union.
Pinkerton detectives and state militia were immediately called
in and the contest settled down to one of endurance. The strike
was one of the longest in the mining industry. Expressions of
sympathy and pecuniary aid came to the starving miners from
many parts of the country, but, in view of the falling market,
the companies could not be forced to surrender. After six
months, having expended over $100,000 for strike benefits, the
union ordered the men back to work upon the drastic conditions
offered at the beginning of the strike. ^^
The failure of strikes brought into vogue the other weapon
of labour — the boycott. But not until the latter part of 1884,
when the failure of the strike as a weapon became apparent, did
the boycott assume the nature of an epidemic. Early in 1885,
John Swinton spoke of the boycott as " a new force in hand," ^^
Besides the Tribune boycott, which continued over several
years, the most notorious boycott in 1884 was the general boy-
cott against the South Norwalk Hat Manufacturers, which grew
out of the unsuccessful strike in 1884. The typographical
union still occupied the lead, but Swinton enumerated a large
number of other boycotts, such as the one declared by the Cen-
tral Labor Union of New York against Ehret's beer for em-
ploying non-union men on the buildings, and the general boy-
cott imposed by the executive board of the Knights of Labor
upon the stoves, ranges, pots, and pokers of the John S. Perry
Company of Troy, which had broken up the stove moulders'
union in a recent strike. ^^
An instance of a perfect local boycott was the one in Orange,
New Jersey, against Berg's hat factory, the only '^ unfair "
factory among the twenty hat factories in the town. The boy-
22 Ibid., Aug. 17, 1884; also Saliers, 23 John Swinton's Paper, Jan. 25,
The Coal Miners, 13-23. See also Hock- 1885.
ing Valley Investigating Committee of the 2ilbid., Mar, 14, 1886. Successful
General Assembly of the State of Ohio, after twp years,
Proceedings (Columbus, 1885).
BOYCOTT 365
cotting union had the local dealers so well under control that
brewers refused to furnish beer to saloon-keepers who sold
drinks to strike-breakers employed in Berg's factory; and the
co-operation of the other hat manufacturers is strikingly illus-
trated by the fact that one manufacturer discharged an employe
for no other reason than that he lived with his brother who was
^' foul," that is, worked for Berg.^^
It was during 1885 that the boycott reached the epidemic
stage. A correspondent complained in Swinton's paper that
" to be a sincere and systematic boycotter now, requires the
carrying about of a catalogue of the different boycotted firms or
articles; and, if you have a family, another catalogue is re-
quired for their use." ^® Nevertheless, in spite of the fact
that the boycotts were promiscuously and indiscriminately used
by local organisations and were neither regulated nor controlled
by any central national organisation, they proved, on the whole,
quite effective. Bradstreet's made a nation-wide inquiry into
the boycott movement for 1884 and 1885, and from the pub-
lished results the following can be learned. ^^ The boycott
movement was a truly national one, affecting the South and the
far West as well as the East and Middle West. The number of
boycotts during 1885 was nearly seven times as large as during
1884. Their number, excluding the 41 anti-Chinese boycotts
on the Pacific Coast, was 196, of which 59 ended successfully,
23 were admittedly failures, and 114 were still pending.
Nearly all of the boycotts either originated with, or were taken
up by, the Knights of Labor, Of the trade unions only the
typographical participated very heavily, with a total of 45 boy-
25 Ibid., Apr. 5, 1885. that were most affected by the boycott
26 Ibid., Aug. 23, 1885. movement, next to newspapers, were as
27 /6td., Dec. 19, 1885. The industries follows (Bradstreet's, Dec. 19, 1885):
Total Claimed Admitted StiU
Boycotted No. gained lost on
Cigar mfgrs. and dealers 26 11 6 10
Hat mfgrs. and dealers 22 4 18
Clothing dealers 14 1 13
Carpet mfgrs. and dealers 13 1 12
Nail mfgrs. and dealers 10 10
Dry goods dealers 7 7
Boot and shoe mfgrs. and dealers 7 1 6
Stove makers 5 3 2
Hotels and public houses 4 3 1
Breweries 4 3 1
Excursion steamers 5 5
Chinese employers 41 40 1
366 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
cotts against newspapers, of which 13 were won, 10 were lost,
and 21 were pending. The International Cigar Makers' Union
was a distant second to the typographical, but it, on the whole,
relied more on the label than on the boycott. The boycotts in
New York City were very largely trade union boycotts, and to
a minor extent also in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania,
In each of these places they were successful. Practically in
every case the boycott was also a secondary boycott, that is,
persons disregarding a boycott were boycotted in tum.^®
The strike, which had been overshadowed by the boycott dur-
ing the latter half of 1884 and the first half of 1885, again came
into prominence in the latter half of the year. This coincided
with the beginning of an upward trend in general business con-
ditions. The strikes of 1885, even more than those of the pre-
ceding year, were spontaneous outbreaks of unorganised masses.
The general strike in the Saginaw Valley, Michigan, is typical
of this movement. The legislature had enacted a general jten-
hour law for all mills and manufacturing establishments, to
become effective September 30, 1885.^^ However, the work-
men in the lumber and shingle mills in the Saginaw Valley,
among whom was a considerable foreign (mostly Polish) ele-
ment, either were ignorant of the fact that the law did not go
into effect at once, or were too impatient to wait. On July 6,
practically without any previous organisation, they went out
on strike for an immediate ten-hour day with the same pay as
they already had. In a short time the strikers, marching in a
body from mill to mill, everywhere demanding that the men
quit work, had forced a shutdown in the entire lumber in-
dustry, numbering 17 shingle mills, 61 lumber mills, and 58
salt blocks attached to the latter, and employing altogether over
5,500 men. After the strike had started, T. B. Barry, a mem-
ber of the executive board of the Knights of Labor, arrived and
took charge. The employers imported over 150 Pinkerton de-
tectives, and, besides, a large body of militia was constantly
held in readiness. The strike lasted through July and August,
28 Ibid. the self-nullifying provision exempting
29 Like all of the general laws for from its operations all cases where a con-
shorter hours that the politicians in this tract to the contrary was made. Michi-
period as well as in the earlier years felt gan Bureau of Labor, Report, 1886, p.
themselves obliged to pass it contained 130.
STRIKES 367
during which time prices on lumber and salt rose considerably.
Apparently, the temptation to benefit from the high prices and
the great determination exhibited by the strikers induced the
employers to concede all the demands, and the strike was called
off September l.^^
That the lowest strata of labour were drawn into the move-
ment is demonstrated by the strike of 2,000 quarrymen at Le-
mont and Joliet, Illinois. The strikers were a polyglot mass
of Swedes, Bohemians, Poles, ^N'orwegians, and Welshmen.
They demanded an increase of 25 per cent in their daily wage
of one dollar and grew violent when the employers began im-
porting l^egro and other strike-breakers. Governor Oglesby or-
dered out the militia and the strike was broken up after sev-
eral strikers and one woman had been killed in a riot. The
correspondent in Swinton's paper ends his account by a sentence
which may well be applied to a large number of the strikes of
that time : ^' The miners were unorganised, and the strike has
been a thing of confusion from first to last." ^^ While violence
and confusion characterised the movement of the unskilled and
unorganised, and, in most of the cases, frustrated their efforts,
the highly skilled and perfectly organised bricklayers, after a
short strike, gained the nine-hour day in l^ew York City,^^
The frequent railway strikes were a notorious feature of the
labour movement in 1885. There had been two strikes on the
Union Pacific in 1884. The first one came entirely unor-
ganised. The shopmen in Denver struck May 4, as a result
of a wage reduction of 10 per cent, and requested Joseph K.
Buchanan, editor of The Labor Enquirer of Denver and a
prominent Knight of Labor, to manage the strike. He did
this so well that inside of thirty-six hours every shop from
Omaha to Ogden and upon all branch lines was on strike, and
on the third day the order reducing the wages was recalled.
This was the beginning of a strong organisation of the Knights
of Labor on that road.^^ Its strength came to a test in August
when the company ordered a reduction of the wages of 15 first-
ao Ibid., 92-126. order in the case of the last named) dur-
31 John Swinton'a Paper, May 10, 1885, ing the summer and fall of 1885 attracted
32 Of the numerous other strikes, the public attention.
street railway strikes in Chicago, New 33 Buchanan, The Story of a Labor
York, and St. Louis (of a very violent Agitator, 70-78.
368 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
class machinists at Ellis, Kansas, and discharged 20 men from
the Denver shops for no reason, as the organisation claimed,
excepting that thej were prominent Knights of Labor. This
strike ended also with complete success and served as a power-
ful advertisement of the Order in the territory of the Rocky
Mountains.
A more notable event was the Gould railway strike in March,
1885. On February 26, a cut of 10 per cent was ordered in the
wages of the shopmen of the Wabash road. A similar reduc-
tion had been made in October, 1884, on the Missouri, Kansas
& Texas. Strikes occurred on the two roads, one on February
27 and the other March 9, and the strikers were joined by the
men on the third Gould road, the Missouri Pacific, at all points
where the two lines touched, making altogether over 4,500 men
on strike. The " runners," that is, the locomotive engineers,
firemen, brakemen, and conductors, supported the strikers, and
to this fact more than to any other was due their speedy victory.
The wages were restored and the strikers re-employed. The
assemblies of the Union Pacific employes commissioned Bu-
chanan to assist the Gould strikers and appropriated $30,000 to
their support. He utilised the opportunity for organising rail-
road men's assemblies wherever he went during his extended
trip over the striking roads. Such, as a rule, was the method of
procedure characteristic of large numbers of the wage-earners
at this time: They struck first and joined the Knights of
Labor afterwards.
The practically unavoidable result of such a method was a
second strike after a short interval in order to protect the ex-
istence of the organisation. The employer, who had been
forced to surrender by the sudden strike, realised the weakness
of the young organisation and endeavoured to nip it in the bud,
by discharging as many leaders as he dared. The second strike
on the Wabash railway, which began on August 18, 1885, was
precisely of this nature. The road, now in the hands of a re-
ceiver, reduced the force of shopmen at Moberly, Missouri, to
the lowest possible limit, which virtually meant a lockout of the
members of the Knights of Labor in direct violation of the
conditions of settlement of the preceding strike. The General
Executive Board, after a futile attempt to have a conference
EAILWAY STRIKES 369
with the receiver, issued a general order ^' to all assemblies
on the Union Pacific and its branches and Gould's Southwestern
system " to the effect that " all assemblies of the above lines of
railway, all Knights of Labor in the employ of the Union
Pacific and its branches and Gould Southwestern system, or any
other railroad, must refuse to repair or handle in any man-
ner Wabash rolling stock until further orders from the Gen-
eral Executive Board." ^* This order, had it been carried out,
would have afl'ected over 20,000 miles of railway and would
have equalled the dimensions of the great railway strike of
1877. But Gould would not risk a general strike on his lines
at this time. According to an appointment made between him
and the executive board of the Knights of Labor, a conference
was held between that board and the managers of the Mis-
souri Pacific and the Wabash railroads, at which he threw
his influence in favour of making concessions to the men. He
assured the Knights that in all troubles he wanted the men
to come directly to him, that he believed in labour organisa-
tions and in the arbitration of all difficulties, and that he
" would always endeavour to do what was right." The Knights
demanded the discharge of all new men hired in the Wabash
shops since the beginning of the lockout, the reinstatement of
all discharged men, the leaders being given priority, and an
assurance that no discrimination against the members of the
Order would be made in the future.^ ^ A settlement was finally
made at another conference, and the receiver of the Wabash road
agreed, under pressure by Jay Gould, to issue an order to the
superintendents directing that they should, " in filling vacan-
cies caused by the discharge of men for incompetency or by
their leaving the service, give the old men the preference over
strangers or new men, asking no questions as to whether
they belong to the Knights of Labor or any other organisa-
tion." 36
The significance of the second Wabash strike in the history
of railway strikes was, that the railway brotherhoods (engi-
neers, firemen, brakemen, and conductors) in contrast with their
conduct during the first Wabash strike, now refused to lend any
34 John Swinton'a Paper, Aug. 23, 35 Jbtd., Aug. 30, 1885.
1885. 36 Ibid., Sept. 13, 1885.
mo HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
aid to the striking shopmen, although many of the members
were also Knights of Labor.
rBut far more important was the effect of the strike upon
the general labour movement. Here a labour organisation for
the first time dealt on an equal footing with the most power-
ful capitalist in the country. It forced Jay Gould to recognise
it as a power equal to himself, a fact which he amply conceded
when he declared his readiness to arbitrate all labour diffi-
culties that might arise. The oppressed labouring masses
finally discovered a champion which could curb the power of a
man stronger even than the government itself. All the pent-
up feeling of bitterness and resentment which had accumu-
lated during the two years of depression, in consequence of the
repeated cuts in wages and the intensified domination by em-
ployers, now found vent in a rush to^ organise under the banner
of the powerful Knights of Labor. \To the natural tendency
on the part of the oppressed to exaggerate the power of a mys-
terious emancipator whom they suddenly find coming to their
aid, there was added the influence of sensational reports in the
public press. The newspapers especially took delight in ex-
aggerating the powers and strength of the Order.
As early as 1883, Grand Master Workman Powderly com-
plained of the exaggerated reports of the newspapers with re-
spect to membership and activities.^" The estimates of mem-
bership ranged from 500,000 to 6,000,000. In 1884 the gen-
eral secretary reports that everywhere the press speaks of the Or-
der.^ ^ Newspapers were always eager to give publicity to ut-
terances of the leaders. When Powderly spoke in St. Paul and
Minneapolis, the newspapers commented favourably and gave
considerable space to what he said.^^ In Arkansas the legis-
lature with only one dissenting vote,^^ granted Powderly the
privilege of the house of representatives to deliver a speech
upon the economic and labour problems of the day.
The general public also manifested a keen interest in the
activities and growth of the Order. The New York Bureau of
Statistics and Labor in 1889 declared: "That the public
desires some information upon the subject of strikes is plainly
37 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1883, 39 Philadelphia Journal of United La-
p. 401. hor, Aug. 10, 1885.
as Ibid., 1884, p. 586. 40 Ibid., Mar. 25, 1885.
I
KNIGHTS OF LABOR 371
evidenced by the prominence given the subject in the public
prints during the past year and the eagerness with which even
the most minute details regarding them have been followed,
their movements watched, and all sorts of theories regarding
this class of labor troubles accepted." *^ Soon the newspapers
tried to outdo each other in " scooping '' labour news, and in
the autumn of 1885 the ^ew York Sun detailed one of its re-
porters to " get up a story of the strength and purposes of the
Knights of Labor." This story was copied by newspapers and
magazines throughout the country and aided considerably in
bringing the Knights of Labor into prominence. The follow-
ing extract illustrates the exaggerated notion of the power of the
Knights.^2
" Five men in this country control the chief interests of five hun-
dred thousand workingmen, and can at any moment take the means
of livelihood from two and a half millions of souls. These men com-
pose the executive board of the noble order of the Knights of Labor
of America. The ability of the president and cabinet to turn out all
the men in the civil service, and to shift from one post to another the
duties of the men in the army and navy, is a petty authority com-
pared with that of these five Knights. The authority of the late car-
dinal was, and that of the bishops of the Methodist Church is, narrow
and prescribed, so far as material affairs are concerned, in comparison
with that of these five rulers. .
" They can stay the nimble touch of almost every telegraph oper-
ator ; can shut up most of the mills and factories, and can disable the
railroads. They can issue an edict against any manufactured goods
so as to make their subjects cease buying them, and the tradesmen
stop selling them.
" They can array labor against capital, putting labor on the
offensive or the defensive, for quiet and stubborn self -protection, or
for angry, organised assault, as they will."
The renown of the Order reached the most isolated communi-
ties. Already in 1884 the general secretary-treasurer had re-
ported that " numerous letters have been received from parties
in Florida, Alabama, and !N"orth Carolina, asking instruction
how to form assemblies." *^ The tone of these letters indicates
that the people seeking information had not come into contact
41 New York Bureau of Labor, Report, 43 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1884,
1885, p. 199. p. 580.
42 Powderly, Thirty Tears of Labor,
494.
372 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
with the Knights of Labor, but must have learned of the Order
through other channels.
Before long the Order was able to benefit by this publicity
in quarters where the tale of its great power could but attract
unqualified attention, namely, in Congress. The Knights of
Labor led in the agitation for prohibiting the immigration of
alien contract labourers. The problem of contract immigrant
labour rapidly came to the front in 1884, when such labour be-
gan frequently to be used to defeat strikes. During the Hock-
ing Valley miners' strike, the Coal Exchange of Ohio sent out
agents to import 3,000 Hungarians or Italians.^* The Senate
Committee on Education and Labor in its report on the Foran
anti-contract labour bill which had come up from the House,
stated that there were 2,000 Hungarian contract labourers in
the Pennsylvania coke regions, and that contract labour was
used in the construction of the Nickel Plate, Ohio River, and
other railways in the Eastern, Southern, and Middle States.^ ^
A reporter on John Swintons Paper approached an immigrant
employment agency operating at Castle Garden, New York, os-
tensibly for the purpose of hiring contract labourers for an
iron company, and was told that during the time this agency
had been in the business, 14,000 contract Italians had been im-
ported, of whom 6,000 had returned to Italy. ^^ The Hun-
garian consul in New York testified before the committee to
the existence in Hungary of a bureau for recruiting contract
labourers. From the other testimony it appeared that the evil
was most flagrant in coke making and bituminous coal mining,
in railway construction and in glass-blowing.'*''
Twenty persons appeared to testify before the committee in
favour of the bill, of whom all but 2 or 3 belonged to the
Knights of Labor. Local Assembly 300, the Window Glass
Workers' Association, was represented by 8 speakers. The
other trades represented were the bituminous miners in Ohio
and Pennsylvania and in the coke region, the cotton-mill oper-
atives and the telegraphers. A galaxy of the Knights of La-
bor leaders were present; Powderly, the grand master work-
44 John Swinton'a Paper, July 20, 1884. 46 House Committee on Labor, Report,
45 Senate Committee on Education and 1883-1884, 48 Cong., 1 sess., No. 444.
Labor, Report, 1883-1884, 48 Cong., 1 *7 Ihid.
Bess., No. 820.
KNIGHTS AND STRIKES 373
man ; Turner, the grand secretary ; and Barry, a member of the
executive board. The anti-contract labour law which was
passed by Congress on February 2, 1885, therefore, was due
almost entirely to the efforts of the Knights of Labor. The
trade unions gave little active support, for to the skilled work-
ingman the importation of contract Italian and Hungarian
labourers was a matter of small importance ; on the other hand,
to the Knights of Labor with their vast contingent of un-
skilled, it was a strong menace. Although the law could not
be enforced and had to be amended in 1887 in order to render
it effective, its passage nevertheless attests the political influ-
ence already exercised by the Order in 1884. Having at-
tained success in getting national legislation, it goes without
saying that a corresponding success attended the work of state
legislation. The subject that was agitated in a large number
of States during 1883-1885 was prison labour. This again
marks off this period as one of depression, for the competitive
menace of prison labour is most strongly felt during such
periods.
The outcome of the Gould strike of 1885 placed the Knights
of Labor before the world as equal to the strongest capitalist
combinations in the country. Added to this the dramatic ex-
aggeration of the prowess of the Order by press and even by
pulpit, and the success of the Order in Washington, were largely
responsible for the psychological setting that called forth and
surrounded the great upheaval of 1886. This upheaval meant
more than the mere quickening of the pace of the movement
begun in preceding years and decades. It signalled the appear-
ance on the scene of a new class which had not hitherto found
a place in the labour movement — the unskilled. All the pe-
culiar characteristics of the dramatic events in 1886 and 1887,
the highly feverish pace at which organisations grew, the na-
tion-wide wave of strikes, particularly sympathetic strikes, the
wide use of the boycott, the obliteration, apparently complete,
of all lines that divided the labouring class, whether geographic
or trade, the violence and turbulence which accompanied the
movement — all of these were the signs of a great movement
by the class of the unskilled, which had finally risen in re-
bellion. This movement, rising as an elemental protest against
374 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
oppression and degradation, could be but feebly restrained by
any considerations of expediency and prudence ; nor, of course,
could it be restrained by any lessons from experience.
The movement bore in every way the aspect of a social war.
A frenzied hatred of labour for capital was shown in every im-
portant strike. During the second Wabash strike, a convention
of the employes on the Gould Southwestern system declared
that " labor and capital have met in a deadly conflict " and
pledged themselves to stand firmly by the Wabash employes,
*' sustaining them by . . . sympathy, money and . . . lives,
if necessary/' "^^ Extreme bitterness towards capital mani-
fested itself in all the actions of the Knights of Labor, and
wherever the leaders undertook to hold it within bounds they
were generally discarded by their followers, and others who
would lead as directed were placed in charge. The feeling of
" give no quarter " is illustrated in the refusal to submit griev-
ances to arbitration when the employes felt that they had the
upper hand over their employers. Powderly wrote as follows
in the beginning of 1886: " In some places where our Order
is strong, the members refuse to arbitrate, simply because they
are strong. Such a course is not in keeping with plank XXII
of the declaration of principles of the Knights of Labor. One
of the causes for complaint against employers has been that
they refused to recognise the employees in the field of arbitra-
tion. 'Now that we are becoming powerful, we should not adopt
the vices which organised labor has forced the employer to dis-
card." ^^ The secretary-treasurer complained at the same time
that " seventy-five per cent of the strikes have taken place be-
fore even an attempt at arbitration was resorted to." '^^
The Saginaw Valley lumber strike in July, 1885, already re-
ferred to, illustrates the methods of intimidation used by strik-
ing workingmen. For several days the men marched from mill
to mill forcing shutdowns by turning off the steam and banking
the fires.^^ The idea of a sympathetic strike was so wide-
spread that it penetrated even to Maine, where a strike was
called against two lime-manufacturing firms because " they used
48 Prom a circular entitled An Address, BO General Assembly, Proceedings, 1886,
dated at Moberly, Mo., Aug. 1, 1885. p. 46.
49 Philadelphia Journal of United La- 51 Michigan Bureau of Labor, Report,
lor, Jan. 25, 1886. 1886, p. 94.
EIGHT-HOUR STRIKES 375
lime rock dug and hauled by men who were not members of
the Knights of Labor." ^^
Many of the leaders of the Knights understood the danger
created by this attitude of arrogance. Tlie district master
workman of District Assembly 30 wrote : " The danger is that
in the excess of joy our members may imagine themselves in-
vincible, and attempt to force measures that will result in injury
to the cause/' ^^ But no warning from a leader, however high,
was capable of restraining the combative rank and file.
But, if the origin and powerful sweep of this movement were
largely spontaneous and elemental, the issues which it took up
were supplied by the existing organisations — the trade unions
and the Knights of Labor. These served also as the dykes
between which the rapid streams were gathered, and if at times
it seemed that they must burst under the pressure, still they
gave form and direction to the movement and partly succeeded
in introducing order where chaos had reigned.
THE EIGHT-HOUR ISSUE AND THE STRIKE
Since the depression of 1883 had not materially reduced the
amount of employment, resistance to employers was not rend-
ered entirely hopeless. Accordingly, the membership of labour
organisations increased in many trades and localities. Yet
some of the national trade unions, Avhich had grown exception-
ally strong during the preceding years of prosperity, were now
losing members. For instance, the bricklayers' union de-
creased from 13,642 members at the end of 1883 to 8,600 in
1884 and increased only to 10,229 in 1885. On the other
hand, the small carpenters' brotherhood grew from 3,293 in
1883 to 4,364 in 1884 and 5,789 in 1885.^*
Several new^ national trade unions were organised during
1885 : the table-knife grinders, the elastic-goring weavers, and
the miners. Likewise there were organised numerous unions
in trades where there was no national organisation.^^ As a
52 Maine Bureau of Labor, Report, 55 In the state of New Jersey there
1886, p. 98. were 3 new unions formed in 1883, 11
53 Philadelphia Journal of United La- in 1884, and 15 in 1885. Among these
bor, Aug. 10, 1885. were mainly independent local unions and
54 The carpenters' brotherhood first be- locals in weak national unions. New Jer-
gan to be tolerated by the employers about sey Bureau of Labor, Report, 1887, pp.
1884-1885. The Carpenter (Indianapo- 37-41.
lis, Ind.), December, 1904.
376 HISTOEY OP LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
rule, it may be stated that during the depression, that portion
of the working class which formerly had been either entirely
unorganised or only partly organised came, in the matter of or-
ganisation, closely abreast of the trades which had enjoyed a
strong organisation in the past.
But if the trade union movement, notwithstanding the de-
pression, was growing apace, the Federation of Organised
Trades and Labor Unions remained where it was and even
declined. As already stated, it became apparent to the leaders
that the organisation could not continue to exist if it remained
a mere association for the purpose of legislation. So, at the
convention of 1884, it was determined to infuse new life into
the Federation by making it assume the leadership in a national
movement for the eight-hour day.
The convention opened in Chicago, October 7, 1884, with 25
delegates from 8 national or international unions (the carpen-
ters, amalgamated engineers, cigar makers, granite cutters,
furniture workers, seamen's, typographical, and tailors), 4 city
federations (Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington, and Minne-
apolis), 1 State federation (Illinois), 1 local assembly of the
Knights of Labor (No. 280, Cincinnati), and 6 local trade
unions. Gompers was absent and also Frank K. Foster, the
secretary of the Federation. A salient question brought up,
in addition to the inauguration of a concerted movement for the
eight-hour day, was the power of the Federation to grant strike
benefits. Both propositions were of such a nature that, had
they been adopted, they would have transformed the Federa-
tion from a purely legislative organisation into a predominantly
economic one. The eight-hour question was raised by Gabriel
Edmonston, the representative of the carpenters' brotherhood,
in the form of the following resolution : " Resolved, By the
Federation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions of the
United States and Canada, that eight hours shall constitute a
legal day's labour from and after May 1, 1886, and that we
recommend to labor organisations throughout this jurisdiction
that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution by
the time named." ^® It was passed by the convention in this
66 Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and
Oanada, Proceedinga, 1884, p. 24.
EIGHT-HOUK STRIKES 377
form by a vote of 23 to 2.^^ It was further decided that " the
incoming Legislative Committee be instructed to extend an in-
vitation to the Knights of Labor to co-operate in the general
movement to establish the eight-hour reform." ^^
The entire membership of the trade unions affiliated with
the Federation in 1884 seems to have been considerably less
than 50,000. Assuredly a general strike on May 1, 1886, for
the eight-hour day was an ambitious programme for such an
organisation.
The proposal that the Federation should dispense strike bene-
fits came up from the Cigar Makers' International Union, which
pledged 2 per cent of its total revenue toward a strike fund,
providing the majority of the affiliated organisations did like-
wise.^ ^ Since this involved an amendment to the constitution,
the convention decided to refer it to all organisations for a
referendum vote by their membership.^^
The eight-hour declaration was coolly received even at the
hands of the trade unions affiliated with the Federation. So
few unions acted upon the strike benefit proposal that the
convention of 1885 did not venture to adopt it. In consequence
the Federation was unable to expend a dollar in aid of the
strike. By the time of the convention of 1885 only the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners had voted upon the
amendment. They adopted it by a vote of 2,197 to 310,^^ al-
though the large local unions of Washington, Chicago, and San
Francisco failed to vote upon the question. IN^evertheless the
convention of 1885 changed but slightly from the position taken
in the preceding year. It again declared that the eight-hour
work-day should begin on May 1, 1886 ; but at the same time it
requested all affiliated unions which did not intend to enforce
it to assist financially such organisations as should strike for a
reduction of hours.^^ Shortly after the adjournment of the
convention, the referendum vote of the cigar makers was taken.
The vote stood 2,640 to 1,389 for the establishment of the eight-
hour day.^^ The German-American Typographia, however,
seems to have been the only other national trade union which
followed the cigar makers.
67 Ibid., 25. 61 Ihid., 1885, p. 17.
58 Ihid., 31. 62 Ibid., 20.
59 Ibid., 14. 63 Cigar Makers' Oficial Journal, De-
90 Ibid., 30. comber, 1885.
378 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
That notwithstanding their apathy the trade unions seem to
have profited considerably from the eight-hour movement is
shown by the statistics available for their growth during 1885
and the first part of 1886. In Illinois, of the 279 trade unions
reporting on July 1, 1886, 140 were organised after Janu-
ary 1, 1885. They brought in 21,055 new members, not count-
ing the simultaneous increase in the membership of the old
unions. The organisation of new unions in 1886 by months
was as follows : 6 in January, 7 in February, 17 in March, 28
in April, 11 in May, 3 in June, and 2 in July; a total of 75.
The heavy organisation of new unions took place in March and
April immediately preceding the eight-hour strike, and the
sudden drop after the strike proves that for the trade unions,
this issue was of paramount importance.^^
The success or failure of the eight-hour movement largely
depended upon the assistance of the Knights of Labor. In the
General Assembly of 1885 a resolution was offered pledging the
support of the Order to the Federation of trades in its move-
ment to establish the eight-hour day on May 1, 1886.®^ Scant
consideration was given to the resolution. On the eve of the
eight-hour strike the general officers of the Knights adopted an
attitude of hostility toward the movement. On March 13, 1886,
Grand Master Workman Powderly issued a secret circular in
which he advised the Knights not to rush into the eight-hour
movement. At the Richmond General Assembly later in the
year, Powderly tried to justify his course upon the plea that
^' the education which must always precede intelligent action
had not been given to those most in need of it,, because no defi-
nite, business-like plan for the inauguration of the eight-hour
movement had been mapped out." ^® This plea has merit
insofar as the Federation of trades had failed to provide finan-
cial means to conduct such a wide-spread strike as was planned.
Nor did the Federation succeed in advertising the movement
64 There were on July 1, 1886, 328 of the Knights of Labor. These figures
trade unions in the State with a total are estimates based on data from 279
membership of 61,904, and, including the trade unions which reported in detail.
96 railroad men's lodges with 9,024 mem- Illinois Bureau of Labor, Report, 1886,
bers and the 56 coal miners' lodges with pp. 165-230.
7,840, there remain 176 trade unions with 65 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1885,
a total membership of 45,040. Fully 88 p. 125.
per cent lived in Cook County. Seventeen 66 Ibid., 1886, p. 39.
per cent were at the same time members
J
EIGHT-HOUR STRIKES 379
among the workingiaen. To this must doubtless be added, how-
ever, a feeling of jealousy on the part of the officers of the
Knights of Labor on account of the gratuitous advertising
which the Federation was receiving through its championship of
the eight-hour movement. By the winter of 1885-1886, also,
the relations between several of the trade unions belonging to
the Federation and the Knights of Labor were strained. Fur-
thermore, Powderly did not look upon the eight-hour day as a
panacea for social ills. His point of view is clearly expressed
in his Thirty Years of Labor, published in 1889: ^^ To talk
of reducing the hours of labor without reducing the power of
machinery to oppress instead of to benefit, is a waste of energy.
What men gain through a reduction of hours will be taken from
them in another way while the age of iron continues. . . . The
advocates of the eight-hour system must go beyond a reduction
of the number of hours a man must work and [must] labor for
the establishment of a just and humane system of land owner-
ship, control of machinery, railroads, and telegraphs, as well as
an equitable currency system before he will be able to retain
the vantage ground gained when the hours of labour are reduced
to eight per day." ®^
But if the slogan had failed to arouse the enthusiasm of the
national leaders of the Knights, it nevertheless found ready re-
sponse in the ranks. The great class of the unskilled and un-
organised, who, owing to the events in that year, had come to
look upon the Knights of Labor as the all-powerful liberator
of the labouring masses from oppression, now eagerly seized
upon this demand as the issue upon which the first battle with
capital should be fought. The new members and, even more,
the prospective ones, could not be aware of Powderly' s negative
attitude to the whole agitation as expressed by him in secret cir-
culars to the assemblies. At the same time the universal con-
demnation of the eight-hour demand by the general press during
the months preceding May 1, 1886, could but heighten its claims
for them. Another powerful factor in disseminating the idea
was the paid organisers of the Knights of Labor. The Feder-
ation was financially unable to put a single organiser in the
field in aid of this movement, but in the Knights of Labor,
67 Powderly, Thirty Years of Labor, 514.
380 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
owing to the system of local payment and the lack of central
control over organisers, the latter found it profitable for them-
selves to agitate the popular eight-hour issue as a means of or-
ganising new assemblies.
The aim of the Knights of Labor was to build up a closely
knitted organisation, and one means of accomplishing this would
have been to give the General Assembly complete control over the
organisers. But the General Assembly never secured this con-
trol, although other measures, even more restrictive, designed to
bring the organisation under the control of the General Assem-
bly, were adopted at nearly every session. As the matter stood
in 1885 there were four organisers at large, directly appointed
by the grand master workman, and a large number of district
organisers, each recommended by a district assembly and con-
firmed by the grand master workman. The pay as provided by
the constitution was $3 per day and mileage not to exceed 4
cents per mile.^^ The commissions of all organisers automati-
cally expired at each session of the General Assembly, so that a
district organiser naturally depended for continuation in office
upon the good will of his district assembly which possessed the
recommending power. The representation of each district as-
sembly in the General Assembly was, moreover, proportionate
to its membership, so that the organiser was more frequently
inclined to act in accord with the desires of the district assembly
than with those of the grand master workman who constantly,
and very properly, warned against over-zealous and too rapid
organisation of new assemblies. Powderly issued a character-
istic warning early in 1886 : " Our organisers, as a rule, are
careful and painstaking, but once in a while we have trouble
with some of them, who, over-zealous and anxious to do good
work, organise too quickly. Organisers must not take in a body
of men who are engaged in a strike or about to embark in a
strike. If they need advice or counsel, give it to them, but the
Knights of Labor must not in future be charged with sins of
which they are not guilty." ^® At the regular session of the
General Assembly in October of the same year he asserted that
the car drivers in St. Louis organised under a promise from
68 General Assembly, Constitution 60 Philadelphia Journal of United La-
(1882), Art. IX, Sec. 14. bor, Feb. 10, 1886.
ORGANISEKS 381
the organiser that they would receive unstinted aid in case of a
strike, and that they were on strike even before they received
their charterJ^
The trouble with the organisers in St. Louis was no doubt
aggTavated by the fact that District Assembly 17 of St. Louis
provided in its by-laws for the election of organisers at a rate
of pay different from that provided for in the constitution of
the General Assembly. It paid its organisers $6 for each new
local organised, and $5 for every local reorganised.^^ This pro-
vision was virtually an encouragement to an unscrupulous or-
ganiser to violate the provision of the General Assembly consti-
tution which said that an organiser must not offer special
inducements to former members to rejoin the Order. "^^
Still, as far as the Knights of Labor were concerned, the
eight-hour issue was merely a slogan that the new and rapidly
multiplying membership chanced to seize upon. It was not
itself the impetus. That had been given by the industrial de-
pression of 1884—1885. American labour movements have
never experienced such a rush of organisation as the one in the
latter part of 1885 and during 1886. In a remarkably short
time — in a few months — over 600,000 people living practi-
cally in every State in the Union united in one organisation.
The Knights grew from 989 local assemblies with 104,066
members in good standing in July, 1885,"^^ to 5,892 assemblies
with 702,924 members in July, 1886. The greatest portion of
this growth occurred after January 1, 1886. In the state of
'New York there were, in July, 1886, about 110,000 members
(60,809 in District Assembly 49 of New York City alone), in
Pennsylvania, 95,000 (51,557 in District Assembly 1, Phila-
delphia alone), in Massachusetts, 90,000 (81,191 in District
Assembly 30, Boston), and in Illinois, 32,000.'^*
In the state of Illinois, for which detailed information for
that year is available, there were 204 local assemblies with
34,974 members,^^ of which 65 per cent were found in Cook
County alone. One hundred and forty-nine assemblies were
70 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1886, 73 The membership in 1884 was 60,811.
p. 38. 74 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1886,
71 District Assembly 17, St. Louis, Con- pp. 326-328.
stitution and By-laws, Art. VII. 75 Illinois Bureau of Labor, Report,
72 General Assembly, Constitution 231-243. Only 4 per cent of the total
(1881), Art. IX, Sec. 13. number were non-wage-earners.
a82 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
mixed, that is, comprised members of different trades and of the
unskilled, and only 55 were trade assemblies. Reckoned ac-
cording to country of birth the membership was 45 per cent
American, 16 per cent German, 13 per cent Irish, 10 per cent
British, and 5 per cent Scandinavian. The largest occupa-
tional groups in Illinois were the following: day labourers,
7,498; coal miners, 3,557; garment workers, 1,987; packing-
house men, 1,780; brickmakers, 1,394; machinists, 1,222; iron
moulders, (machine moulders), 1,203; coopers, 930; painters
and paper hangers, 816 j box factory men, 506; shoemakers,
934; rolling-mj'll labourers, 404; watch factory workers, 394;
the remainder being distributed among more than 100 occupa-
tions. Evidently those who were lacking in bargaining strength,
whether for the reason that they were unskilled or little skilled
or because they were menaced by machinery, looked to the
Knights of Labor as their deliverers. The history of the years
immediately preceding throws light upon the forces impelling
them to organise.
Half of the assemblies in Illinois and three-fourths of the
membership were organised after January 1, 1885 — 50 assem-
blies during the year 1885, and 94 from January to July, 1886.
The progress during 1886 by months was as follows: 11 assem-
blies were organised in January; 19 in February; 14 in March;
29 in April; 23 in May; and 3 in June. Yet high figures for
April and May do not necessarily prove that the eight-hour agi-
tation and strike had been the paramount factor, for, although
this agitation did not spread outside of Chicago, the number
organised after January 1 in that city was only 37, while for the
rest of the State it was 57. Moreover, in the autumn of 1886,
the number of Knights in Cook County (Chicago) was double
that in July; in other words, in Chicago the growth had been
most rapid after the May strike.''^ Nevertheless, the Knights
throughout the country furnished a large proportion of the
strikers for the eight-hour day. Shortly, however, before this
strike broke out, the country's attention was for a time monopol-
ised in another direction by the Southwest strike.
At the settlement of the first strike on the Gould system in
March, 1885, the employes were assured that the road would
T6 Ibid., 221.
THE SOUTHWEST STRIKE 383
institute no discriminations against the Knights of Labor.
However, it is apparent that a series of petty discriminations
was indulged in by minor officials, which kept the men in a state
of unrest. It culminated in the discharge of a foreman, a mem-
ber of the Knights, from the car shop at Marshall, Texas, on the
Texas and Pacific road, which had shortly before passed into
the hands of a receiver. The strike broke out over the entire
road on March 1, 1886. It is necessary, however, to note that
the Knights of Labor themselves were meditating aggressive
action ten months before the strike. District Assembly 101, the
organisation embracing the employes on the Southwest system,
held a convention on January 10, and authorised the officers to
call a strike at any time they might find opportunity to enforce
the two following demands : first, the recognition of the Order ;
and second, a daily wage of $1.50 for the unskilled. The latter
demand is peculiarly characteristic of the Knights of Labor
and of the feeling of labour solidarity that prevailed in the
movement. But evidently the organisation preferred to make
the issue turn on discrimination against the members. An-
other peculiarity which marked off this strike as the beginning
of a new era was the facility with which it led to a sympathetic
strike on the Missouri-Pacific and all leased and operated lines,
which broke out simultaneously over the entire system, March 6.
This strike affected more than 5,000 miles of railway situated
in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Indian Territory, and Ne-
braska. The strikers did not content themselves with mere
picketing, but actually took possession of the railroad property
and by a systematic " killing " of engines, that is, removing
some indispensable part, effectively stopped all the freight traf-
fic. The number of men actively on strike was in the neigh-
bourhood of 9,000, including practically all of the shopmen,
yardmen, and section gangs. The engineers, firemen, brake-
men, and conductors took no active part and had to be forced
to leave their posts under threats from the strikers.
The leader. District Master Workman Martin Irons, accu-
rately represented the feelings of the strikers. Personally hon-
est and probably well-meaning, his attitude was overbearing and
tyrannical. With him as with those who followed him, a strike
was not a more or less drastic means of forcing a better labour
384 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UmTED STATES
contract, but necessarily assumed the aspect of a crusade against
capital. Hence all compromise, and any policy of give and
take, were absolutely excluded.
^Negotiations were conducted by Jay Gould and Powderly to
submit the dispute to arbitration, but they failed, and after two
months of sporadic violence, the strike spent itself and came to
an end. It left, however, a profound impression upon the pub-
lic mind, second only to the impression made by the great rail-
way strike of 1877, and a congressional committee was appointed
to investigate the whole matter."^ '^
The Southwest strike terminated on May 3. On May 1, pre-
ceding, the general eight-hour strike began.
The preparatory agitation assumed large proportions in
March. The main argument for the shorter day was work for
the unemployed. With the exception of the cigar makers, it
was left wholly in the hands of local organisations. The
Knights of Labor figured far less prominently than the trade
unions, and, among the latter, the building trades and the Gei^
man-speaking furniture workers and cigar makers stood in the
front ranks of the movement. Evidently Powderly' s secret cir-
cular did not fail to exercise a strong restraining effect. Never-
theless, Bradstreefs '^^ estimated that no fewer than 340,000 men
took part in the movement : 190,000 actually struck, only 42,000
of this number with success, and 150,000 secured shorter hours
without a strike. Thus the total number of those who succeeded
with or without strikes was something less than 200,000.
It should be noted, however, that the eight-hour movement
very early changed, for the most part, into a shorter-hour move-
ment, only the cigar makers and a majority in the building
trades having consistently adhered to the demand for eight
hours. Of those to whom shorter hours were granted without
a strike, 35,000 were Chicago packing-house employes (Knights
of Labor), 19,500 were cigar makers (15,000 in New York),
22,000 were in the building trades (Washington, New York,
Chicago, and Baltimore accounting for 18,000), 8,200 were to-
bacco factory workers (5,000 at Baltimore), 3,300 were furni-
ture workers (3,000 at Grand Eapids), 3,300 were machinists
77 " Investigation of Labor Troubles in in House of Representative? Report, 49
Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and niinois," Cong., 2 sess.. No. 4174.
78 May X5, 1886.
EIGHT-HOUR STRIKES 385
(2,000 at Chicago). "^^ The centre of the strike was in Chicago
with 80,000 80 participants. New York followed with 45,000
strikers, Cincinnati with 32,000, Baltimore with 9,000, Mil-
waukee with 7,000, Boston with 4,700, Pittsburgh with 4,250,
Detroit with 3,000, St. Louis with 2,000, Washington with
1,500, and from all other cities, 13,000, making a total of
198,450.«^
Of the total number of those who, after a strike, succeeded
in getting a shorter day, 10,000 were in Cincinnati (out of
32,000 who struck), and, distinguished by trades, 5,000 were
in the building trades (1,000 in JSTew York and 1,000 in
Newark), 1,000 were piano makers (New York), 3,200 were
machinists (3,000 in New York), 1,900 were agricultural im-
plement makers, and the remainder came from miscellaneous
trades.^ ^
Even those who for the present succeeded, whether with or
without strikes, soon lost the concession. Bradstreefs stated
in January, 1887, that " the best available information respect-
ing the outcome of the wide-spread short-hour strikes of May
and of October, 18 86,^^ points to a conspicuous failure. Those
who gained and have retained the rule permitting shorter hours
of labour daily, have in many instances sacrificed a correspond-
ing portion of wages, or have consented to piece work or to work
by the hour. It may be fairly assumed . . . that so far as the
payment of former wages for a shorter day's work is concerned
the grand total of those retaining the concession will not exceed,
if it equals, 15,000.'^ ^^ Bradstreefs had reported a loss of
nearly one-third of the concessions one month after the strike,
and a prediction that " the aggregates will probably fall away
still further as competition presses on the short-hour employ-
ers." «^
The Knights of Labor and the trade unions emerged from
the strike with unequal prestige. Powderly's circular, while it
did not stop the Knights from participating, tended to place the
Order in an unfavourable light before the working class. It is
79 Bradatreet't, May 8, 1886. lockout against the retention of the eight-
80 Ibid.. June 12, 1886. hour system which had been granted in
81 Ibid. May without a strike.
82 Ibid., May 8, 1886. 8i Bradstreet'a, Jan. 8, 1887.
83 This latter was the Chicago packers' 85 Ibid., June 12, 1886.
386 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
true this did not tell immediately, as the Order stood at the
height of its strength in 1886, but, subsequently, when the move-
ment subsided, it furnished to the trade unions an invaluable
talking point. On the other hand, the trade unions were always
able to point back with satisfaction to their record in May, 1886.
Moreover, notwithstanding Powderly's position against the
strike, the press and the general public charged the Order with
responsibility for the crimes laid at the doors of organised
labour, notably the Haymarket bomb, and praised the trade
unions by way of contrast. Though such a view was wholly
inaccurate with regard to the May strike, the press and the
public were correct when they instinctively scented the greater
danger to the established social order as coming from the soli-
darity of all labour rather than from the trade unions.
THE CHICAGO CATASTROPHE
The failure of four-fifths of those who struck was in large
measure due to the fatal bomb exploded May 3 on Haymarket
Square in Chicago. Samuel Gompers afterwards testified:
^^ The effect of that bomb was that it not only killed the police-
men, but it killed our eight-hour movement for that year and
for a few years after, notwithstanding we had absolutely no
connection with these people.'^ ^^
The Chicago bomb and its effect on the labour movement crys-
tallised as it were the emotional and intellectual connection be-
tween the Upheaval and the early American " syndicalism." ^^
What many of the Knights of Labor were practising during
the Upheaval in a less tragic manner and without stopping to
look for a theoretical justification, the Chicago anarchists or,
to be more correct, syndicalists, had elevated into a well rounded-
out system of thought. Both Syndicalism and the Upheaval
were related chapters in the revolutionary movement of the
eighties.
Notwithstanding the emphasis which the Chicago revolution-
ists laid upon trade union action, their influence among the
trade unions in the city prior to 1884 was infinitesimal, even
among the German unions. Prosperity was a weak culture for
86 Industrial Commission, Report, VII, 623.
87 See above. II, 296 et »eq.
CHICAGO ANARCHISTS 387
revolutionary teachings. Thus we find that at a labour demon-
stration which the socialists organised in August, 1883, only a
few German trade unions, the typographical, the furniture work-
ers, and the house carpenters, besides the Lehr und Wehr Verein
officially participated. Nor, apparently, did any trade union
avail itself prior to 1884 of the invitation to send delegates to
the central committee of the Black International. However,
the advent of depression radically altered the situation. In
February, 1884, the local Progressive Cigar Makers' Union
held a mass meeting to discuss the comprehensive programme
for labour legislation recommended to the legislature by Gov-
ernor McLane of Maryland. Thomas J. Morgan and Wal-
theich, members of the Socialist Labor party, spoke in favour
of the programme, and Spies and Grottkau against it. The
latter secured the adoption of a resolution which declared " that
the only means whereby the emancipation of mankind can be
brought about is the open rebellion of the robbed class in all
parts of the country against the existing economic and political
institutions." ®^
The same union took the initiative in organising a new pro-
gressive central trade union body. In June, 1884, it issued a
call to the unions in the city to secede from the conservative
Amalgamated Trades and Labor Assembly and to form a cen-
tral labour union with a progressive policy. The German
unions of metal workers, carpenters and joiners, cabinet makers,
and butchers sent delegates. At first the growth of the new
central body was slow. One year after its formation the ma-
jority of the trade unions in the city were still affiliated with the
old central body, but towards the end of 1885 the strength of
the rival bodies became considerably less uneven — the Central
Labor Union having 13 unions, mostly German, some of which,
however, were the largest in the city, and the Amalgamated
Trades and Labor Assembly counting 19 affiliated unions.
From the time of its formation the Central Labor Union
was on exceedingly friendly terms with the central committee
of the Black International and took part in the processions
which the latter organised from time to time. In June, 1884,
the following trade unions participated in such a procession
88 Chicago Vorbote, Feb. 20, 1884.
388 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
and listened to speeches by Parsons : custom tailors, Typograph-
ical N'o. 9, carpenters, tanners, butchers, cabinet makers, and
Progressive Cigar Makers.^^ In October the Central Labor
Union adopted a declaration of principles, which, starting out
with the assertion that land is a social heritage, that labour
creates all wealth, that there can be no harmony between capital
and labour, and that strikes as at present conducted by trade
unions are doomed to fail, declared that it was " the sacred duty
of every workingman to cut loose from all capitalist political
parties and to devote his entire energy to his trades or labour
union ... in order to stand ready to resist the encroachment
by the ruling class upon our liberties. '^ The recommendation
to cut loose from politics and to devote their entire energy to
the trade or labour union meant something very different from
a return to " pure and simple '' trade unionism. This is evi-
denced by the fact that at a public debate held between the
Central Labor Union and its rival, the Amalgamated Trades
and Labor Assembly, the former openly took its position with
the Black International.^'^
Many of the individual trade unions went even further.
The officers of the carpenters' and joiners' union admitted, in
reply to an attack in the New York Der Sozialist, that but few
of its 368 members were not anarchists. This union had been
formed in October, 1884, with 40 members, as a rival to the
regular union affiliated with the Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners of America. It became the nucleus of an attempted
international union intended to be an extremely decentralised
organisation, in accordance with the anarchistic aversion to
centralised povver.^^ As seen abov-e, a similar union was es-
tablished by metal workers, of whom, in addition, a considerable
number formed themselves into an Armed Section of the Metal
Workers' Union of Chicago, with the object to " prepare for the
revolution by learning how to use arms." ^^ The headquarters,
however, of the revolutionary metal workers' movement were
not in Chicago, but in St. Louis.®^
89 Ibid., July 2, 1884. 01 Chicago Vorbote, Mar. 4, 1885, and
90 The Alarm, Feb. 7, 1885. The So- May 20, 1885.
cialist Labor party members remained 92 Ibid., June 23, 1885. See above, II,
with the Amalgamated Trades and Labor 297, 298. A revolutionary cigar makers'
Assembly. union was formed in the same month.
98 In St. Louis a Central Labor Union,
CHICAGO ANARCHISTS 389
During the summer and autumn of 1885 the principal activ-
ity of the Chicago Central Labor Union was agitational. It
conducted mass meetings and processions. On the Sunday pre-
ceding Labor Day, it organised a grand march to offset the Labor
Day parade of the iVmalgamated Trades and Labor Assembly,
which had secured Mayor Harrison and the labour congressman,
Martin A. Foran, as speakers. The number of participants at
the revolutionary parade was estimated at 10,000,^* but this
figure is doubtless strongly overdrawn, since the daily papers in
Chicago made no mention of it. Indeed, the revolutionary
movement did not become a matter of general public attention
until Thanksgiving Day of 1885, when a great parade occurred
at Chicago in which the principal figures were the English-
speaking element and the unemployed, who had been organised
by Parsons and his aides. As long as the movement consisted
mainly of the German trade unions, the public took little notice
of it.
The English-speaking element was organised, not in trade
unions, but in " groups of the International." The centre of
this movement v/as occupied by the editorial staff of The Alarm.
The first copy of the paper, which appeared October 9, 1884,
contained, besides the Pittsburgh manifesto, several editorials
by A. R. Parsons, and an article " dedicated to tramps," by
Lucy E. Parsons, which closed with the words '' Learn the use
of the explosives/' The '^ tramps," that is, the unemployed,
who grew particularly numerous in 1884, the year of the lowest
depression, proved to be very responsive at this time. Thanks-
giving Day of 1884, Parsons had organised a procession of about
5,000,^^ largely composed of the unemployed. The procession
halted in Market Square and was addressed by Parsons, Spies,
Griffin, and Schwab. The Chicagoer Arheiter-Z eitung ^^ com-
mented upon it in the following words : " Yesterday took place
the birth of a new phase in the social struggle. Hitherto the
revolutionary movement has been restricted to the better situ-
modelled upon the Chicago pattern, was for its main object the agitation of the
established in January, 1885, in opposi- eight-hour day. Die Parole (St. Louis),
tion to an existing trades council which Feb. 3, 1886.
was accused of being under the influence 84 Estimated by the Chicago Yorhote.
of politicians. The Central Labor Union »5 Estimated by the Chicago YorhoU.
was composed of nine German and four so Nov. 28, 1884.
English-speaking trade unions and had
300 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ated and the more intelligent German, Bohemian and Danish
workingmen. . . . Since yesterday this is no longer the case.
Yesterday, the typically American working class carried the red
flag through the streets and therehy proclaimed its solidarity
with the international proletariat. '^
About this time there existed in Chicago 13 groups of the
Black International, including " one vigorous English speaking
organisation," with a total membership of over 1,000. The
English-speaking, or American, group had been organised by
Parsons in November, 1883, with but 5 members; its agitation
was at first comparatively without results, but after the appear-
ance of The Alarm, it soon became the most active group in the
city. In October, 1884, its membership was 45 and in April,
1885, it increased to 90.^^ It held two mass meetings every
week and periodically sent out such agitators as Spies, Parsons,
Grifiin, and Gorsuch on speaking tours over the country.
Largely as a result of their efforts, American groups were in
existence in June, 1885, in Alleghany City, Kansas City, Cin-
cinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Covington (Kentucky), New York
City, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, and, during the following
month. Parsons alone organised 8 American groups in Missouri,
Kansas, and Nebraska.
The movement among the foreign nationalities kept pace with
the American. In November, 1885, there were 11 Bohemian
groups in the country, and the total number of groups reached
over 100, located in 43 different cities. The total membership
does not lend itself to a ready estimate since the information
bureau published no statistics. Assuming, however, the aver-
age membership of a group to be between 50 and 70, the total
membership of the Black International at that time was about
5,000 or 6,000, and of this number about 1,000 were English-
speaking.®®
Chicago with its 2,000 organised Internationalists at the end
of 1885 remained throughout the entire life of the Black Inter-
national the city where the movement had its deepest roots,
»T The Alarm, May 16, 1885. Arbeiter-Zeitung, Fackel, and Vorbote, in
98 Eight papers were published under Chicago, and Die Parole, in St, Louis;
the auspices of the International: 1 in and 2 in Bohemian, the Chicago Bor^douc^
English, The Alarm; 5 in German, the no*t and the New York Profetar.
New York Die Freiheit, the Ohicagoer
CHICAGO ANAKCHISTS 391
where the best brains of the organisation were centred, and the
only city where the English-speaking wage-earners of the kind
then filling the ranks of the Knights of Labor were attracted
into the revolutionary movement. This movement reached its
climax in the spring of 1886 at the time of the general labour
movement for the eight-hour day, and met its tragic collapse at
Haymarket Square.
The Central Labor Union began an active agitation for the
eight-hour day in November, 1885. Its attitude and motives'
were quite characteristic and they strongly differentiated the
revolutionary trade unions from the other trade unions and the
Knights of Labor. A resolution introduced by Spies at a
meeting in October was adopted " with enthusiasm." It ended
as follows : ®^ • ^^ Be it Resolved, That we urgently call upon the
wage-earning class to arm itself in order to be able to put forth
against their exploiters such an argument which alone can be
effective: Violence, and further be it Resolved, that notwith-
standing that we expect very little from the introduction of the
eight-hour day, we firmly promise to assist our more backward
brethren in this class struggle with all means and power at our
disposal, so long as they will continue to show an open and reso-
lute front to our common oppressors, the aristocratic vagabonds
and the exploiters. Our war-cry is * Death to the foes of the
human race.' " ^
The Central"x,abor Union had already outstripped the Amal-
gamated Trades and Labor Assembly and consisted in April,
1886, of 22 unions, including the 11 largest ones in the city.^
True to the spirit of the above declaration, it did not take the
initiative in the eight-hour struggle but allowed an Eight-Hour
Association of Chicago, which was specially organised for this
purpose, to lead the movement. This association was organ-
ised in jSTovember and comprised the Amalgamated Trades and
Labor Assembly, the Socialist Labor party, socialists (who
99 Chicago Vorbote, Oct. 14, 1885. ters, International Carpenters (Bohe-
1 These unions were as follows: Typo- mian), Independent Carpenters and Join-
graphical No. 9, Fringe and Tassel Work- ers, Carpenters and Joiners (Lake View),
ers, Fresco Painters, Furniture Workers Wagon Workers, Harness Makers, Butch-
(Pullman), Bakers No. 10, South Side ers. Progressive Cigar Makers, Metal
Bakers' Union, Lumber Workers, Hand Workers, No. 1, 2, 3, and the Metal Work-
Labor Union, Hod Carriers' Union, ers' Union (Pullman). Chicago Yorbote,
Brewers and Malters, Beer Barrel Coop- Apr. 24, 1886.
ers, Brickmakers, International Carpen-
392 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
remained loyal to tiie Assembly), and the Knights of Labor.
Yet, when the movement was well under way, the Central Labor
Union generously contributed its share. On the Sunday pre-
ceding the first of May it organised an eight-hour monster
demonstration, in which 25,000 took part, with addresses by
Parsons, Spies, Fielden, and Schwab. The Internationalists
also took an active part in the struggle against the McCormick
Harvester Works, which had begun several months earlier but
shaded into the eight-hour movement. In the middle of Feb-
ruary, the McCormick trouble took on the form of a lockout,
following upon the demand of the men that the company should
stop its discrimination against their fellows who had been identi-
fied with a former strike at the same plant. On March 2, Par-
sons and Schwab addressed a meeting of the locked-out men to
protest against the employment of detectives, and they addressed
several other meetings at subsequent dates.
Meanwhile, the general eight-hour movement in the city
started out with good promise. About 40,000 employes struck
on the first day of May and the number was almost doubled
within four days. Of these, 10,000 were lumber-shovers and
labourers, 10,000 metal workers, 20,500 clothing workers,
7,000 furniture workers and upholsterers, and 2,500 employes
of the Pullman shops. ^ Indeed, the movement assumed larger
proportions in Chicago than elsewhere in the country and the
outcome would probably have been proportionately successful,
had it not been for the tragic event on the fourth of the month.
On the third of May, a group of striking lumber-shovers held
a meeting near the McCormick reaper works and were addressed
by Spies. About this time strike-breakers employed in these
works began to leave for their homes, and were attacked by some
of the bystanders at the meeting. The police arrived in large
numbers and, upon being received with stones, fired and killed
four and wounded many. Burning with indignation Spies
rushed to his office where he prepared and issued a call for re-
venge which contained the words: " Workingmen, arm your-
selves and appear in full force." A mass meeting of 3,000 met
at 7 :30 p. m. on the following day. May 4, on Haymarket
Square, to protest against the shooting by the police. The
2 Bradstrett't, May 15, 1886.
CHICAGO ANAECHISTS
393
meeting was addressed first by Spies, then by Parsons, the
latter confining himself to the eight-hour question. Fielden
spoke last. Meanwhile a threatening rainstorm dispersed the
crowd, leaving a few hundred to listen to Fielden's speech.
Mayor Harrison, who had attended for the purpose of influenc-
ing the meeting to maintain order, also left with the bulk of
the crowd. Soon after, a squad of 180 police formed in line
and began to advance upon the remaining crowd. Fielden cried
out aloud to the captain that this was a peaceable meeting.
While the captain was turning around to give an order, a bomb
was hurled at the police, killing a sergeant and throwing about
sixty to the ground. The police immediately opened fire. On
the next day. Spies as well as six other Internationalists, were
arrested.^ Albert K. Parsons escaped but gave himself up dur-
ing the trial.
It is unnecessary to describe here the period of police terror
in Chicago, the hysterical attitude of the press, or the state of
panic that came over the inhabitants of the city, l^or is it
necessary to deal in detail with the trial of the accused anar-
chists. One view of it was expressed by Governor John P. Alt-
geld in 1893 in his Reasons for Pardoning Fielden, Neehe, and
Schwab, which elicited a reply from the presiding judge.*
3 They were Michael Schwab, Adolph
Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, immi-
grants from Germany; Oscar Neebe, an
American of German parentage, and Sam-
uel Fielden, an Englishman. Three other
men, Waller, Schrader, and Seliger, were
arrested and later turned informers.
4 Governor Altgeld pointed out that the
jury had been drawn in an unusual way,
namely. Judge Gary appointing a special
bailiff to go out and summon such men
as he, the bailiff, chose, instead of having
a number of names drawn out of a box
that contained many hundred names ; that
the judge by his ruling had made it ex-
tremely difficult for the lawyer for the de-
fendants to get consideration for his
charge that the jury had been packed;
that the judge through adroit questioning
of the prospective jurors had made it pos-
sible for many to be placed upon the jury
who candidly admitted their prejudice
against the defendants, including a rela-
tive of one of the victims of bomb; that
the State had never discovered who threw
the bomb and that the judge had admitted
that he ruled without precedent when he
denied a motion for » new %r\e,\ on the
ground that it sufficed that the defendants
had incited large masses of people to vio-
lence, even though they had left the com-
mission of the crime to individual whim
as to place and time; and finally that the
personal bearing of the judge had been
extremely unfair throughout the trial.
Judge Joseph E, Gary replied in de-
fence of the verdict, pointing out that the
defendants had been sentenced not be-
cause they were anarchists, but because
they were parties to the murder. He
quoted from his charge to the jury at the
trial : " The conviction proceeds upon the
ground . . . that they had generally by
speech and print advised large classes
... to commit murder, and have left
the commission, the time, and place,
and when, to the individual will and
whim or caprice, or whatever it may
be, of each individual man who
listened to their advice, and that in
consequence of that advice, in pursuance
of that advice, and influenced by that
advice, somebody, not known, did throw
the bomb that caused Degan's death."
("The Chicago Anarchists of 1886: The
Crime, the Trial and the Punishment," in
394 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The jury handed in a verdict declaring Spies, Schwab, Fielden,
Parsons, Fischer, Engel, and Lingg guilty of the murder of
Patrolman M. J. Degan and imposed a death sentence. Oscar
W. Neebe was declared guilty of the same crime and sentenced
to imprisonment for fifteen years. The case was carried to the
Supreme Court, and there was affirmed in the autumn of 1887.''
On November 10, Lingg committed suicide; the sentence of
Fielden and Schwab was commuted to imprisonment for life,
and Parsons, Fischer, Engel, and Spies were hanged November
11, 1887.
The labour organisations throughout the country, while con-
demning violence on principle, pleaded for mercy to the sen-
tenced men. The convention of the American Federation of
Labor adopted a resolution in this sense, and the feeling was
the same among the Knights of Labor, particularly on behalf
of Parsons who had been a Knight for over ten years. How-
ever, Powderly, who always showed fear lest the general public
should suspect the Order of abetting violence, threw his per-
sonal influence into the scale and prevented a similar resolution
from being adopted by the General Assembly of the Knights of
Labor. After the Chicago tragedy, the Black International
practically collapsed. The workingmen who supported it in
the West withdrew and the organisation shrank to a mere hand-
ful of intellectuals.
Century Magazine (New York), AprU, « Spies et al. v. The People, 122 Bl. 2
1893, XXIII, 835.) (1887).
I
CHAPTER X
THE AFTERMATH, 1886-1887
The Knights and the Federation. New national trade unions, 396. Ef-
forts of the Kjiights to annex the skilled unions in order to strengthen the
bargaining power of the unskilled, 397. Resistance of the skilled, 397.
Situation in the early eighties, 397. Beginning of aggression, 398. Dis-
trict Assembly 49 of New York, 399. Conflict with the International
Cigar Makers' Union, 399. The split in the latter, 399. The support of
the secessionists by District Assembly 49, 400. The strike in New York
in January, 1886, 400. Settlement with District Assembly 49, 400. Fu-
sion of the seceders from the International Cigar Makers' Union with Dis-
trict Assembly 49, 401. Widening of the struggle, 401. Gompers' leader-
ship, 401. General appeal to the trade unions, 402. Conflicts between the
Knights and other trade unions, 402, Trade union conference in Phila-
delphia, 403. The "address," 404. Proposed treaty, 405. Reply of the
Knights, 406. Refusal of the skilled trades to be used as a lever by the
unskilled, 407. Further negotiations, 407. Declaration of war by the
Knights, 409. Impetus for complete unification of the trade unions, 409.
Convention of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in
1886, 409. The American Federation of Labor, 410. Its paramount activ-
ity— economic, 410. Another effort for a settlement, 411. The outcome,
411. Arbitrary action of District Assembly 49 of New York, 412. Return of
the secessionist cigar makers to the International Union, 412. The Orders'
new conciliatory attitude, 412. Non-conciliatory attitude of the unions, 413.
Subsidence of the Knights. Beginning of the backward tide in the Order,
413. The employers' reaction, 414. Forms of employers' associations, 414.
Their aim, 414. Their refusal to arbitrate, 415. The means for the sup-
pression of the Order, 415. The Knights' and the employers' attitude
towards trade agreements, 416. Control over strikes in the Order, 416. Con-
trol over boycotts, 417. Strikes during the second half of 1886, 417. The
Troy laundry workers' lockout, 418. The knit goods industry lockout, 418.
Chicago packing industry lockout, 418. Powder ly's weakness, 420. Long-
shoremen's strike in New York in 1887, 420. Its spread, 420. Its conse-
quences, 421. Falling off of the Order's membership, 422. Recession of
the wave of the imskilled, 422. Growing predominance of the middle-class
element in the Order, 423. Success of the trade unions, 423. Chicago
bricklayers' strike, 423. Tlie employers' association and the trade agree-
ment, 424. Situation in the bituminous coal industry, 425. National
Federation of Miners and Mine Laborers, 425. Relations with the Order,
425. The " interstate " trade agreement, 426. Drift towards trade union
organisation within the Order, 427. History of the national trade assem-
blies, 1880-1885, 427. Fluctuation of the Order's policy, 427. Its cause,
427. The victory of the national trade assembly idea, 428.
305
396 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
KNIGHTS AND FEDERATION
During 1886 the combined membership of labour organisa-
tions was exceptionally strong and for the first time came near
the million mark.^ The Knights of Labor had a membership
of 700,000 and the trade unions at least 250,000,^ the former
composed largely of the unskilled and the latter of the skilled.
Still, the leaders of the Knights realised that mere numbers were
not sufficient to defeat the employers and that control over the
skilled, and consequently the more strategic occupations, was re-
quired before the unskilled and semi-skilled could expect to
march to victory. Hence, parallel to the tremendous growth of
the Knights in 1886, there was a constantly growing effort to
absorb the existing trade unions for the purpose of making them
subservient to the interests of the less skilled elements. It was
mainly this that produced the bitter conflict between the Knights
and the trade unions during 1886 and 188Y. Neither the jeal-
ousy aroused by the success of the unions nor the opposite aims
of labour solidarity and trade separatism gives an adequate ex-
planation of this conflict. The one, of course, aggravated the
situation by introducing a feeling of personal bitterness, and the
other furnished an appealing argument to each side. But the
struggle was one between groups within the working class, in
which the small but more skilled group fought for independence
of the larger but weaker group of the unskilled and semi-skilled.
The skilled men stood for the right to use their advantage of
skill and efficient organisation in order to wrest the maximum
1 This number was not reached again Union, the Order of Railroad Telegra*
until 1900. phers, the Machinists' National League,
2 It is extremely difficult and hazardous the National League of Musicians, the
to make an estimate of the total numerical International Musical Union, the Pro-
strength of the trade unions at this time. tective Fraternity of Printers, the Tailors'
The Federation of Labor claimed in 1886 Progressive Union, the Mutual Associa-
that there were 600,000 trade unionists tion of Railroad Switchmen of North
organised, but the statistical table show- America, and the Glass-blowers of North
ing the growth since 1881, published in America (split off from District Assembly
1912, gives only 140,000 as the strength 149 and rejoined the latter in 1889).
in 1886. However, adding the member- The following were organised in 1887: the
ship of the railway organisations and the Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators,
bricklayers' national union, which were the Horse Collar Makers' National Union,
then, as now, unaffiliated, and the unnum- the Building Laborers' National Union,
bered local trade unions without a national the Saddle and Harness Makers' National
organisation, it is safe to estimate the Association, the Silk Workers' National
membership at 250,000. The following Union, the Umbrella, Pipe and Cane
national trade iinions were formed in Workers' National Union, the Paving
1886: the National Union of Brewery Cutters' National Union, the Pattern
Workers, the Metal Polishers', Buffers', Makers' League, and the Brotherhood of
Platers' and Brass Workers' International Section Foremen.
SKILLED AND UNSKILLED 397
amount of concessions for themselves. The Knights of Labor
endeavoured to annex the skilled men in order that the advan-
tage from their exceptional fighting strength might lift up the
unskilled and semi-skilled. From the viewpoint of a struggle
between principles, this was indeed a clash between the prin-
ciple of solidarity of labour and that of trade separatism, but,
in reality, each of the principles reflected only the special in-
terest of a certain portion of the working class. Just as the
trade unions, when they fought for trade autonomy, really re-
fused to consider the unskilled men, so the Knights of Labor
were insensible to the fact that their scheme would retard the
progress of the skilled trades.
The conflict was held in abeyance during the early eighties.
The trade unions were by far the strongest organisations in the
field and scented no particular danger when here or there the
Knights formed an assembly either contiguous to the sphere of a
trade union (such as organising the machine moulders whom
the union ignored) or even encroaching upon it (such as the
organisation of an assembly of iron workers at Braddock, which
included unskilled as well as some tonnage men).^ The Feder-
ation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions and the Knights
of Labor mutually endeavoured to remain on as friendly terms
as possible. We have had occasion to note that the Federation
in 1880 extended to district assemblies of the Knights an invi-
tation to affiliate, and again, as we saw in 1884, it invited the
Order to co-operate in the eight-hour movement. This friendly
feeling was largely reciprocated by the Knights of Labor. The
General Assembly in 1882 ordered a communication to be sent
to the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers with
the assurance that the Order would not admit a seceding faction
from that union. The next General Assembly voted against
recognising a printers' trade district and rejected the proposal
of District Assembly 64 (practically composed only of printers),
that all printers should be required to join it.* The assembly
also authorised the appointment of a committee to draw up a
platform for an alliance of the various labour unions of the
3 Fitch, The Steel Workers, 111, Pitch * General Assembly, Proceedings, 1883,
shows how the existence of two rival or- pp. 467, 508.
ganisations weakened the strength of the
iron workers at Braddock.
398 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
country, having power to confer with the representatives of ex-
isting unions.*
Even with the expansion of the Order, beginning in 1884,
when the local assemblies grew aggressive towards trade unions,
the General Assembly for a long time maintained this friendly
attitude. In 1884 a resolution was passed, as follows : " No
local Assembly of the Order, or any of its members, shall an-
tagonise any trade and labor organisation, or any of its mem-
bers if known to be faithful workers in the cause of labor, by
refusing to work with those holding membership cards in any
factory and non-co-operative industry under the control of the
Knights of Labor." ^ In 1885 the General Executive Board
ruled that District Assembly 41, Baltimore, could not force one
of its locals to refrain from sending delegates to the convention
of the Federation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions.'^
The General Assembly of 1885 decided that Local Assembly
3834 under District Assembly 1, formerly a local union affiliated
with the granite cutters' national union, should return to that
organisation provided this could be done without a fine or
humiliating conditions,^ and that the label of the Knights of
Labor should never be placed upon goods manufactured at less
than union prices.
However, complaints made by trade unions became numerous
after 1884. The Furniture Workers' Journal accused the fur-
niture workers' assembly at Grand Rapids of trying to win over
the members of the union in that place, on the plea that its dues
were lower than those of the union. The Journal claimed that
the same situation existed in several other localities. John
Swinton's Paper reported early in 1885 from Philadelphia that
" the open unions are quietly fighting the Knights of Labor,
who in return break up organised unions by taking out a few
men and organising an Assembly." ^ The greatness of the
drawing power of the Order is illustrated by the fact that dur-
ing 1885-1886 several local unions in such a highly skilled
trade as that of custom tailors went over bodily to the Knights.
This had almost ruined the national union. ^^
6 Ibid., 467. 506. » John Swinton*8 Paper, Mar. 1, 1885.
0 Jbtd., 1884, pp. 707, 787. 10 American Federationist, 1902, IX,
7 Ibid., 1885, p. 73. 699.
8 Ibid., 140.
KNIGHTS AND FEDERATION 399
The Knights were in nearly every case the aggressors; only
such a powerful trade union as the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers could afford to issue the aggressive order of Grand
Chief Engineer Arthur, during the Wabash strike in 1885, that
all members withdraw from the Knights of Labor. ^^ He soon
thereafter declared that the brotherhood was not a labour or-
ganisation.
It is significant that among the local organisations inimical
to trade unions, District Assembly 49, of New York, should
prove the most relentless. This assembly in 1887 ^^ during the
'longshoremen's and coal-miners' strike, did not hesitate to tie
up the industries of the entire city for the sake of securing the
demands of several hundred unskilled workingmen. The ac-
tion of the assembly furnishes another proof that the conflict
between the Knights and the trade unions was really one be-
tween the classes of the unskilled and the skilled. ^^
Though District Assembly 49, New York, came into conflict
with not a few of the trade unions in that city, its battle royal
was fought with the cigar makers' unions. There were at this
time two rival national unions in the cigar making trade, the
International and the Progressive, and the aggressive interfer-
ence by the Knights of Labor created a series of situations of
such complexity that at times they almost resembled some of the
most involved problems with which modem European diplomacy
has been obliged to deal. The split in the cigar makers' union,
dating from 1881, occurred in No. 144, New York, turning on
the policy of the international officers, which was to support
candidates of the existing parties who pledged themselves to the
prohibition of tenement house work. The socialist element in
the union at first tried to block this policy, but carried the fight
over into the next election of officers where it won by electing a
socialist as president of No. 144. He was, however, immedi-
ately suspended by Strasser, the international president, on the
ground that he was a manufacturer and consequently ineligible.
11 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1885, and that it was later charsced with acquir-
p. 88. ing control of the entire Order at the spe-
12 Spc below, II, 420-422. cial session of the General Assembly in
13 This district assembly was manag:ed May, 1886, when it effected a reconcili-
by a mysterious " Home Club " of which ation with Powderly, whom it had for-
it can definitely be stated only that it en- merly opposed. Buchanan, The Story of
deavoured to wipe out the trade unions a Labor Agitator, 301.
400 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
But the socialists refused to submit either to the suspension of
this chosen officer or to the order issued by the international
executive board to turn over the funds to the union pending a
new election. They formally seceded by assuming the name,
Progressive Union 'No. 1. The Progressive Union grew very
rapidly because it took in the tenement house workers and
adopted lower dues than those of the International Union. It
soon spread outside of New York and thus became in fact, as
well as in name, a rival national union to the older organisa-
tion. Naturally its membership was recruited from among
the socialists and the recent immigrants, who also were largely
tenement-house workers.^* Eifforts at reconciliation were re-
peatedly made, and in December, 1885, a small part of the Pro-
gressives united with the International. Strasser stated in
January, 1886, that the trade union element had come back to
the fold " under the resolutions of the Rochester Conference and
the restrictions adopted at the last Convention," but that the
" anarchists " and the " tenement-house scum " still continued
to form a union of their own.^^ However, the " anarchists "
and the " tenement-house scum " constituted nearly the entire
membership of the Progressive Union.
As early as 1883, District Assembly 49 took a hand in the
struggle to support the Progressive Union. ^® But the most
active aggression came with the beginning of 1886, when Dis-
trict Assembly 49, its membership multiplying by leaps and
bounds, gained great confidence in its own prowess. On Jan-
uary 2, 1886, the manufacturers' association, embracing four-
teen firms, declared a reduction in wages. Both the Interna-
tional and the Progressive unions refused to submit, and, in
consequence, the association started a lockout which threw out of
work about 10,000 employes. However, the intense rivalry be-
tween the unions made durable co-operation impossible, and ten
weeks later the Progressive Union, with the aid of the Central
Labor Union, entered into an agreement with the employers.
14 The above facts are taken from a Union in 1883," supplement to the Cigar
document presented by Local Assembly Makers' O Social Journal, 5—10.
2814, Knights of Labor, to District As- is Cifjar Makers' Official Journal, Janu-
sembly 49, giving the Progressive Cigar ary, 1886.
Makers' version (Leaflet in library of 16 Philadelphia Journal of United La-
University of Wisconsin), and from a spe- hor, December, 1883, p. 609.
cial report by Strasser in the " Proceed-
ings of the Convention of the International
THE SPLIT 401
The other union continued the strike. Thereupon the manu-
facturers applied to District Assembly 49 for settlement and
for the label of the Knights of Labor. District Assembly 49
readily met the proposal, gave them the white ^'^ label, and be-
sides allowed the use of the newly introduced bunching ma-
chine in exchange for a promise to abolish tenement-house
work.^^ Neither the International nor the Progressive cigar
makers desired to accept the machine. But the Progressive
Union could ill afford to go against its powerful ally, District
Assembly 49. On the contrary it felt so hard-pressed by its
rival that on March 14, 1886, it decided to join District As-
sembly 49 as a body and become Local Assembly 2814 with 7,000
members. ^^
The events in !N^ew York at once let loose the dogs of war.
Already in 1885 the International Union and the Order had
come into conflict over the label. In February, 1886, the In-
ternational Union instituted a general boycott on all cigars which
did not bear the label of that union, including those which bore
the Knights of Labor label. ^^ Similar struggles developed in
a large number of cities, notably in Milwaukee and Syracuse.
There is ample proof that each side " scabbed " on the other.
The conflict between the Knights of Labor and the cigar
makers' union brought to a climax the sporadic struggle that
had been going on between the Order and the trade unions.
The trade unions finally awakened to a sense of the danger
from the rapidly growing Order. The common danger created
unity of feeling, and the indifference previously felt for fed-
erated action now gave way to a desire for closer union.
Another highly important effect of this conflict was the
ascendency in the trade union movement of Samuel Gompers as
17 The Knights of Labor label was (pamphlet), published July 2, 1886, sets
white, while the International Oigar Mak- forth the Knights of Labor side. The
ers' Union used the blue label. other side was given in the Oiffar Makers'
18 It is extremely interesting to note Official Journal, March, 1886. A num-
the agreement with regard to the bunching ber of international cigar makers in New
machine. The patentee was made a party York, including Gompers, organised into
to it and both he and the manufacturers a local assembly, to enable themselves to
agreed that the latter should pay a speci- give the Knights of Labor label to friendly
fled royalty to District Assembly 49 for the employers. This assembly was suspended
use of the machine. (New York Bureau by the General Executive Board after a
of Labor, Report, 1886, p. 524.) The hearing in March, 1886. General Assem-
" bunching machine " did the work of bly, Proceedings, 1886, p. 28, 29.
four or five hands in the bunching de- 20 Philadelphia Journal of United La-
partment. lor, Feb. 25, 1886.
19 The Order and the CigarmarJsert
402 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
the foremost leader. Gompers had first achieved prominence in
1881 at the time of the organisation of the Federation of Or-
ganised Trades and Labor Unions. But not until the situa-
tion created by the conflict with the Knights of Labor did he
get his first real opportunity, both to demonstrate his inborn ca-
pacity for leadership, and to train and develop that capacity by
overcoming what was perhaps the most serious problem that
ever confronted American organised labour.
Gompers was the leading emissary sent out early in 1886
by the cigar makers' union to agitate in favour of a closer fed-
eration with other unions. ^^ The appeal found a ready re-
sponse. McGuire, of the carpenters' brotherhood, stated before
the special meeting of the General Assembly in May, 1886, that
from 150 to 160 unions had grievances against the Knights of
Labor, and these included iron moulders, brick makers, bakers,
miners, printers, carpenters, and granite cutters. ^^ In granite
cutting the national union engaged in a controversy over a boy-
cott with District Assembly 99 of Providence. ^^ On the other
hand, the Seamen's Benevolent Union of the Great Lakes, being
hard pressed by the employers, voluntarily joined the Order in
the expectation that this might gain for it recognition from the
vessel owners.^* The glass industry was practically under the
control of the Knights of Labor. In addition to the window-
glass blowers' organisation. Local Assembly 300, both the Drug^
gist Ware Glass Blowers' League of America and the Western
Green Bottle Blowers' League became district assemblies in
1886.25 The Flint Glass Workers' Union, on the other hand,
came into violent conflict with the Order when the latter ad-
mitted a seceding faction from that union. ^^
From the standpoint of the trade unions fighting for preser-
vation, the voluntary assimilation of the weaker unions spelled
no less danger than the attempted forcible assimilation of the
cigar makers' and the granite cutters' unions. Already the con-
vention of the Federation of Organised Trades and Labor
21 Keller and Kirschner were others. 24 Philadelphia Journal of United La-
J, S. Kirschner, " Statement," in Ameri- bor, Aug. 20, 1887.
can Federationist, 1901, VIII, 470. 25 McCabe, "The Standard Rate in
22 General Assembly Proceedings, 1886, American Trade Unions," in Johns Hop-
p. 51. Tcins University Studies, XXX, 155.
2S John Swinton's Paper, Feb. 28, 1886. 26 Pennsylvania Bureau of Labor, Re-
port, 1888, F. p. 18, et seq.
i
A. F. OF L. 403
Unions in 1885, at a secret session, had instructed the secretary
to raise the question with Powderly. Powderly replied in a
friendly and reassuring tone, but, as the report of the legislative
conmiittee at the convention of 1886 put it: " Mr. Powderly's
power for good was sadly overestimated by the delegates to the
last session of the Federation/' ^'^
The agitation carried on by the emissaries of the cigar makers'
union bore fruit and in the spring of 1886, P. J. McGuire, of
the carpenters, A. Strasser, of the cigar makers, P. J. Fitzpat-
rick, of the iron moulders, Jonah Dyer, of the granite cutters,
and W. H. Foster, secretary of the Federation of Organised
Trades and Labor Unions, issued a call for a general trade
union conference in Philadelphia on May 17. Besides the
above named unions, it was attended by the officers of the
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, the typo-
graphical union, the National Federation of Coal Miners and
Labourers, the Amalgamated Association of Coal Miners and
Labourers, Boiler Makers' International Union, Lasters' Pro-
tective Union of New England, German- American Typographia,
Tailors' National Union, Nailers' National Union, Bricklayers'
and Masons' International Union, Stereotyp^rs' Association and
McKay Shoe Stitchers' Union of New England. ^^ For the
first time in the eighties, did the combined trade union move-
ment of the entire country come together for common action.
What the drawing power of the legislative programme put forth
by the Federation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions fell
short of accomplishing, the common menace from the Knights
was sufficiently strong to realise.
William H. Weihe, of the iron and steel workers, was made
chairman and William H. Foster and P. J. McGuire, secre-
taries of the conference. A proposed treaty of peace with the
Knights of Labor was then drawn up and McGuire, Weihe,
Strasser, Fitzpatrick, Chris Evans (of the miners), and Daniel
P. Boyer (of the printers) were selected as a committee to con-
27 American Federation of Labor, Pro- Association, the National Silk Hat Pin-
ceedinga, 1886, p. 9. ishers' Association, the United Piano
28 Letters of sympathy were received Makers' Union, the Ohio Valley Trades
from the Druggist Glass Blowers' Union, Assembly, the American Flint Glass Work-
Western District, the Glass Workers, East- ers, Carpenters, Amalgamated Machinists
ern District, United States Wool Hat Fin- and Engineers, and the Spinners' Union,
ishers' Union, the Telegraphers' National Cigar Makers' Official Journal, June, 1886.
404 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
duct negotiations with the Order. It was also voted that the
conference of the executive officers of the national trade unions
should meet annually thereafter.
The conference stated " the conviction of the chief officers
of the National and International Unions here assembled that,
inasmuch as trades unions have a historical basis, and in view
of the success that has attended their efforts in the past, we hold
that they should strictly preserve their distinct and individual
autonomy, and that we do not deem it advisable for any trade
union to be controlled by or to join the Knights of Labor in a
body, believing that trades unions are best qualified to regulate
their own internal trade affairs. Nevertheless, we recognise the
solidarity of all labor interests." That the trade union con-
ception of the " solidarity of all labor interests," however,
meant no promise of active support to the unskilled class can
plainly be seen from the address to the tradje jinions issued
later, which described their task as follows : ' " Through the
development of industry and the aggregation of capital, the
tendency is to monopolise the business of the country. Hence
the various trades have been affected by the introduction of ma-
chinery, the sub-division of labor, the use of women's and chil-
dren's labor and the lack of an apprentice system, so that the
skilled trades were rapidly sinking to the level of pauper labor.
To protect the skilled labor of America from being reduced to
beggary, and to sustain the standard of American workmanship
and skill, the trades unions of America have been established." J
The address goes on to say that " When they [the trade unionsl
are founded on such grounds, there need be no fears of their
destruction, nor need there be any antagonism between them
and the Knights of Labor." The last conclusion, though it
may have been entirely legitimate and in strict conformity with
abstract logic and justice, went, nevertheless, contrary to the
concrete logic of the situation. The trade unions could hardly
expect that the Knights of Labor at a critical period such as
this, when the fate of their movement was hanging in the bal-
ance, could allow the skilled men to remain within the narrow
circle of their special trade interests. It was, therefore, a mat-
ter of natural sequence that, using the words of the resolution
passed by the conference, it became " the avowed purpose of a
KNIGHTS VBKSUS XJKIONS 405
certain element of the Knights of Labor to destroy the trades
unions.'' ^^
But though the trade unions seem to have failed to grasp the
nature of the class struggle conducted by the Knights of Labor,
and, therefore, viewed the latter merely as an encroaching or-
ganisation, no one can deny that they were acting within their
right when they strenuously opposed the policy of forcible as-
similation applied by the Knights of Labor. The proposed
treaty of peace drawn up by the conference as the basis for
future negotiations read as follows:
" First, That in any branch of labor having a national or inter-
national organisation, the Knights of Labor shall not initiate any
person or form any assembly of persons following said organised
craft or calling without the consent of the nearest national or inter-
national union affected.
" Second, That no person shall be admitted to the Knights of
Labor who works for less than the regular scale of wages fixed by
the union of his craft, and none shall be admitted to membership in
the Knights of Labor who have ever been convicted of ^ scabbing/
* ratting,' embezzlement or any other offence against the union of his
trade or calling until exonerated by the same.
" Third, That the charter of any Knight of Labor Assembly of
any trade having a national or international union shall be revoked
and the members of the same be requested to join a mixed assembly
or form a local union under the jurisdiction of their respective
national or international trades unions.
" Fourth, That any organizer of the Knights of Labor who en-
deavours to induce trades unions to disband, or tampers with their
growth or privileges, shall have his commission forthwith revoked.
" Fifth, That whenever a strike or lockout of any trade unionists
is in progress no assembly or district assembly of the Knights of
Labor shall interfere until the difficulty is settled to the satisfac-
tion of the trades unions affected.
" Sixth, That tbe Knights of Labor shall not establish nor issue
any trade mark or label in competition with any trade mark or label
now issued or that may hereafter be issued by any national or inter-
national trades union." ^"
The General Assembly met in special session, May 25, 1886,
at Cleveland. The prime object of this session was to settle
the question of the relation to the trade unions. Powderly re-
mained neutral. Nearly one-third of the delegates were trade
29 Ihid., June 1888. 80 Ibid.
406 HISTOEY OP LABOUE IN THE UlSriTED STATES
unionists. Nevertheless the delegates from District Assembly
49 ^^ laboured so diligently that it required four days to secure
the passage of an address to " Brothers in the Cause of La-
bor." ^^ The executive board laid the proposed treaty before
the convention and the trade union's special committee was given
a hearing before the committee on the state of the Order. The
treaty was rejected, but a conciliatory address, largely the work
of George E. McNeill and Frank K. Foster, with approval by
Powderly, was issued " To the Officers and Members of all Na-
tional and International Trades' Unions of the United States
and Canada," as follows :
" We recognise the service rendered to humanity and the cause of
labor by trades-union organisations, but believe that the time has
come, or is fast approaching, when all who earn their bread hy the
sweaty iheir brow shall be enrolled under one general head, as we
ftre'tJontrolle^ by one common law — the law of our necessities ; and
we will gladly welcome to our ranks or to protection under our ban-
ner any organisation requesting admission. And to such organisa-
tions as believe that their craftsmen are better protected under their
present form of government, we pledge ourselves, as members of the
great army of labor, to co-operate with them in every honourable
effort to achieve the success which we are unitedly organised to ob-
tain ; and to this end we have appointed a Special Committee to con-
fer with a like committee of any National or International Trades
Union which shall desire to confer with us on the settlement of any
difficulties that may occur between the members of the several organ-
isations."
The practical aspects of the co-operation were to be, accord-
ing to the address, the interchange of working cards, " the adop-
tion of some plan by which all labour organisations could be pro-
tected from unfair men, men expelled, suspended, under fine,
or guilty of taking places of union men or Knights of
Labor while on strike or while locked out from work," the
adoption of a uniform standard of hours and wages through-
out each trade whether controlled by a trade union or by the
Knights of Labor, and finally, a system of joint conferences
31 The General Assembly passed a reso- the Knights of Labor, in preference to
lution offered by T. B. McGuire, the rep- any other trade-mark or label. Any mem-
resentative of District Assembly 49 of ber who refuses to obey shall be guilty of
New York, instructing the General Execu- violation of obligation." General Assem-
tive Board to issue a general order to the bly. Proceedings, 1886, p. 73.
effect that the " members support and 82 Buchanan, The Story of a Labor Apt-
protect all labels or trade-marks issued by tator, 801.
KNIGHTS VEESUS UNIONS 407
and of common action against employers, provided that " in the
settlement of any difficulties between employers and employees,
the organisations represented in the establishment shall be par-
ties to the terms of settlement." ^^
Obviously, the majority of the Knights of Labor preferred
that the trade unions should affiliate with them. It cannot be
said, however, that this preference sprang from the mere desire
for expansion common to all organisations. The address that
the convention ordered to be sent to the president of the Amal-
gamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers shows that the
expansionist policy of the Knights was dictated by its solicitude
for the interests of unskilled labour. It said in part : ^' In
the use of the wonderful inventions . . . your organisation
plays a most important part. Naturally it embraces within its
ranks a very large proportion of laborers of a high grade of
skill and intelligence. With this skill of hand, guided by in-
telligent thought, comes the right to demand that excess of com-
pensation paid to skilled above the unskilled labor. But the
unskilled labor must receive attention, or in the hour of diffi-
culty the employer will not hesitate to use it to depress the com-
pensation you now receive. That skilled or unskilled labor may
no longer be found unorganised, we ask of you to annex your
grand and powerful corps to the main army that we may fight
the battle under one flag." ^*
But apparently the skilled iron workers evinced no desire to
be pressed into the service of lifting up the unskilled, for when
a special committee of the Knights of Labor submitted the
proposal to the convention of the amalgamated association, it
was voted down practically unanimously.^^ It met with like
treatment at the national conventions of the typographical
union,^^ the plumbers, steam and gas fitters,^''' the flint glass
workers, the coal miners, the stationary engineers, and at the
hands of the New York telegraphers, German confectioners,
and the jewelers.^^
During the summer months of 1886 the conflict between the
trade unions and the Order was held in abeyance pending nego-
33 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1886, 36 J&id.
p. 53. S7 John Swinton'a Paper, Sept. 19,
34 J&d., 38. 1886.
35 Carpenter, June, 1886. 38 Carpenter, October, 1886. j
408 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
tiations. The committee appointed at the Philadelphia trade
union conference convened again at Philadelphia on Septem-
ber 29 and held a joint meeting with Powderly and the execu-
tive board of the Knights of Labor regarding the appointment
by the latter of a special negotiating committee. Powderly's
position was unsatisfactory. Nevertheless, the trade union
leaders decided to postpone action until after the meeting of the
General Assembly at Richmond, Virginia, in October, 1886,
and to meet again at Columbus, in December.^®
The Richmond General Assembly, which met October 9,
presented a unique spectacle. It was thoroughly typical of
the great labour upheaval at its highest point. The number of
the delegates had more than quadrupled since the session in
May, 658 delegates representing a constituency of over 700,000.
The overwhelming majority were attending a convention for the
first time. They possessed no parliamentary experience and
totally lacked cohesiveness. Consequently, District Assembly
49, New York, the leader of the ^' union haters " with its 61
delegates bound by the unit rule, found it a comparatively easy
matter to dictate the proceedings of the assembly, particularly
since it secured the co-operation of Charles H. Litchman, the
most influential leader in District Assembly 30, Massachusetts,
with 75 votes.*^ Powder ly, who had been at all previous ses-
sions independent of any combination and thoroughly out of
sympathy with the Napoleonic tendencies of District Assembly
49, was now lined up with the latter.
Here is how Joseph R. Buchanan, of Denver, the leader of
the minority faction which favoured amicable relations with the
trade unions, describes the Richmond session :
" It was at Richmond that the seal of approval was placed upon the
acts of those members who had been bending every energy since the
Cleveland special session to bring an open warfare between the order
and the trades-unions. The contest between the exclusivists and the
bi-organisation representatives was fierce, and it never waned for one
moment during the two weeks of the session. The bitterness of feel-
ing engendered by the strife between these two elements entered into
39 Cigar Makers' Official Journal, Oc- session ; formerly the duties had been per-
tober, 1886. formed by the secretary-treasurer. Pow-
40 Litchman was elected general secre- derly's salary was raised to $5,000, and
tary for two years with an annual salary the term of office was lengthened to two
of $2,000. This office was created at this years.
A. F. OF L. 409
every matter of any consequence which came before the body. . . .
While the question at issue was the Knights against the whole trades-
union movement, the discussions covering every possible phase of
the subject, one trade only was named in the action taken by the Gen-
eral Assembly — the cigar makers. A resolution was adopted order-
ing all memijers of the order who were also members of the Cigar
Makers^ International Union to withdraw from the latter organis-
ation; failure to comply with said order meaning forfeiture of
membership in the Order of the Knights of Labor. The majority
by which the resolution was adopted was not, comparatively, large,
but it was enough; and the greatest labor organisation up to that
time known in this country received its mortal wound at Richmond.
. . . Powderly . . . was unequivocally with the anti-unionists.
This was Mr. Powderly's first serious mistake as General Master
Workman, though he had been criticised because of his course in the
Southwestern strike and during the eight-hour movement of May 1,
1886. . . . The General Master Workman desired harmony in the
order, and he permitted himself to be deceived into the belief that
harmony could be secured by killing the influence of the trades-
unionists who were Knights." *^
The open declaration of war by the Knights furnished the
last impetus necessary for the complete unification of the trade
unions already begun at the Philadelphia conference. The con-
ference of the trade union officials scheduled for Columbus,
Ohio, in December, 1886, came together on the eighth of the
month. The legislative committee of the Federation of Organ-
ised Trades and Labor Unions changed the place of meeting
of the annual convention from St. Louis to Columbus, where
it met on the seventh. The report of the legislative committee,
of which Samuel Gompers was chairman, reviewed with satis-
faction the part the organisation had played in the eight-hour
strikes. The movement had greatly stimulated the growth of
trade unions, w^hich had doubled their membership during the
year. It would have been more successful but for the fickle
attitude of the "leading members of the Knights of Labor."
Among the legislative achievements of the year were the estab-
lishment of bureaus of labour statistics in several States, child
labour laws, etc. An important place was occupied by the new
Federal law for the incorporation of trade unions. The report
saw in it a recognition of the " principle of the lawful character
41 Buchanan, The Story of a Labor Agitator, 313-316.
410 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
of Trades Unions, a principle we have been contending for
years/' though " the law is not what was desired, covering
only those organisations which have, or may remove their head-
quarters to the District of Columbia, or any of the Territories of
the United States.'^ ^^
The delegates to the convention of the Federation attended
in a body the conference of the trade union oflficials, the latter
representing 25 organisations claiming to represent " 316,469
members in good standing." ^^
On the second day, having effected a permanent organisa-
tion, the conference declared itself as the first annual conven-
tion of the American Federation of Labor and devoted the
three remaining days of the session to the constitution and to the
relations with the Knights of Labor.
A committee was appointed to meet with a similar committee
chosen by the convention of the Federation of Organised Trades
and Labor Unions and the latter consented to merge itself with
the American Federation of Labor.
The new federation was not to be, like its predecessor, a mere
association for legislation, but was entrusted with important
economic functions. The national or international trade union
was made the sole basic unit, and local unions remained entitled
to independent representation only in trades where no national
union existed.^^ The place of the former legislative commit-
42 Federation of Organized Trades and Barbers' National Union, the Metal Work-
Labor Unions of the United States and men's National Union, the Brotherhood of
Canada, Proceedings, 1886, p. 8. Carpenters and Joiners, and the Cigar-
43 American Federation of Labor, Pro- makers' International Union. The foUow-
ceedinga, 1886, p. 16. P. J. McGuire, ing were city trades' councils: The
the chosen secretary, said to a reporter on United German Trades of New York, the
John Swinton's Paper, Dec. 19, 1886: Baltimore Federation of Labor, the Phila-
" It is not a membership merely on paper, delphia Central Labor Union, Chicago
but is proven by the most recent official Trades' Assembly, the Essex County (New
reports of the organisation. We spent a York) Trades' Assembly and the St. Louis
day and a half of our time in obtaining Trades' Assembly, an J the following local
these reports from the delegates." Still trade unions: Bricklayers No. 1, Cincin-
the statistics published by the American nati. United Order of Carpenters of New
Federation of Labor in 1912 estimate the York City, New York Stereotypers' Union,
membership in 1886 at about 140,000. Waiters' No. 1, the New York Mutual
Twelve national or international unions Benevolent and Protective Society of Op-
were as follows: the Iron Molders' Na- erative Painters, the Journeymen Barbers'
tional Union, the Typographical Interna- Protective Union of New York, and the
tional Union, the German-American Typo- International Boatmen's No. 1 of New
graphia, the Granite Cutters' National York.
Union, the New England Lasters' National 44 The dominance of the national union
Union, the Furniture Workers' National was further guaranteed at the convention
Union, the National Federation of Miners of 1887 by a provision that in case a roll
and Mine Laborers, the Journeymen call is demanded each delegate, except
Tailors' National Union, the Journeymen those of city or state federations, may cast
A. F. OF L. 411
tee was taken by a president, two vice-presidents, a secretary,
and a treasurer, together forming an executive council, with
the following duties : first, to watch legislation ; second, to orga-
nise new local and national trade unions; third, while recog-
nising " the right of each trade to manage its own affairs," to
secure the unification of all labour organisations ; fourth, to pass
upon boycotts instituted by the affiliated organisations; and
fifth, in cases of strikes and lockouts, to issue after an investiga-
tion, general appeals for voluntary financial contributions in aid
of the organisation involved. The revenue of the Federation
was to be derived from charter fees and from a per capita tax of
one-half cent per month for each member in good standing.
The president's salary was fixed at $1,000 per annum.
Bitter feeling towards the Knights of Labor at once mani-
fested itself, when the delegate from the window-glass workers'
association was refused a seat on the ground that '^ said organis-
ation is affiliated with the Knights of Labor, and is not a
Trade Union within the meaning of the call for the Conven-
tion." *^ Another attempt was made to negotiate with the
Order, and a special committee of the convention met Decem-
ber 11 with a committee of the Knights of Labor. The meet-
ing led to no results, since the trade unions would be satisfied
with nothing less than the acceptance of the treaty, and the
Knights of Labor took the attitude that they not only did not
have the right to consider it again after it had been rejected
by the General Assembly, but that they would refuse to make a
definite promise that organisers should not interfere in strikes
ordered by trade unions or should not try to organise assemblies
from among the members of trade unions.^ ^ Thereupon the
Federation in its turn unanimously declared war upon the
Knights and announced the decision to carry hostilities into
the enemy's territory : ^' We condemn the acts [of the Knights]
above recited, and call upon all workingmen to join the Unions
of their respective trades, and urge the formation of National
and International Unions and the centralisation of all under
one head, the Ajnerican Federation of Labor." ^'^ Along with
one vote for every one hundred members 46 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1887,
which he represents. 1444—1447.
4i5 American Federation of Labor, Pro- 47 American Federation of Labor, Pre
eeedings, 1886, p. 18. ceedings, 1886, p. 23.
412 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
this went a resolution, likewise unanimously adopted, refusing
to patronise the label of the Knights of Labor.^^ After elect-
ing Samuel Gompers as president, P. F. Fitzpatrick, of the iron
moulders, first vice-president, J. W. Smith, of the journeymen
tailors', second vice-president, P. J. McGuire, of the carpenters,
secretary, and Gabriel Edmonston, also of the carpenters,
treasurer, the convention adjourned to meet the following year
at Baltimore.
Although the negotiations between the Knights and the trade
unions were rendered fruitless by the arrogance of the trade
unions on the one side, and by the apparent indifference of the
Order on the other, the fact that out of the conflict had arisen
a closely knitted trade union federation practically guaranteed
that in the future a bridle would be put upon the aggressiveness
of the organisers of the Knights. Of course, District Assembly
49 made the fullest use of the victory at Richmond, and pushed
its anti-trade union policy to extremes. It even ordered the
members of the Progressive Cigar Makers' Union, its faithful
ally against the International Cigar Makers' Union, which had
become affiliated as Local Assembly 2814, in March, 1886, either
to leave the Order or to give up their union. This arbitrary
action was too much even for the Progressives, and, rather than
submit, they reunited with the International Union, their bit-
ter enemy of the past six years.*®
However, the Order as a whole, by the time of the next ses-
sion of the General Assembly at Minneapolis in October, 1887,
clearly saw its mistake, and Powderly handed down a belated
decision declaring unconstitutional the action taken at Rich-
mond which expelled all members of the International Cigar
Makers' Union. The decision was upheld by the General As-
sembly.^^ Besides the growing strength of the Federation, this
change of policy must have contributed also to the decreasing
membership of the Order, which had fallen off one-third in one
48 Ibid. and on account of which District Assembly
49 John Swmton's Paper, Aug. 1, 1886 ; 49 was receiving a royalty. Growing out
Cigar Makers' Official Journal, September, of this was an order issued Dec. 14. 1886,
1886, p. 2 ; and a circular by District As- by District Assembly 49 to its affiliated
sembly 49, date not given. An important local assemblies to withdraw from the
ground for friction was supplied by the Central Labor Union.
dissatisfaction on the part of the progres- ico General Assembly, Proceedingt, 1887,
sives with the acceptance of the bunching pp. 1528—1581, 1822.
machine upon which the Knights insisted,
EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATIOlSrS 413
year. But the Order's conciliatory attitude met with but little
response. The trade unions, now feeling their advantage, were
not prone to accept the outstretched hand. The Amalgamated
Association of Iron and Steel Workers had ordered that none
of its members should belong to the Knights of Labor after
April 1, 1888.^^ At the convention of the x^merican Federa-
tion of Labour in December^ 1887, a report was adopted which
said : ^' The attitude of the Knights of Labor towards many
of the trades unions connected with the American Federation of
Labor has been anything but friendly. . . . While we agree
that a conflict is not desirable on our part, we also believe that
the party or power which seeks to exterminate the trades unions
of the country should be met with unrelenting opposition,
whether that power consists of millionaire employers or men
who title themselves Knights of Labor.'' ^^ Gompers, in the
presidential report, recalled that the Knights of Labor had been
present at the Pittsburgh convention in 1881, where the Federa-
tion of Organised Trades and Labor Unions had been estab-
lished, and added : " Let us hope that the near future will bring
them back to the fold, so that all having the grand purposes in
view, as understood and advocated by the American Federation
of Labor, may work for their realisation." ^^
THE SUBSIDENCE OF THE KNIGHTS
As a basis for this hope Gompers said : ^^ It is noticeable
that a great reaction and a steady disintegration is going on in
most all organisations of labor which are not formed upon the
basis that the experience of past failures teaches, namely, the
benevolent as well as the protective features in the unions." ^*
He was not in the least exaggerating. At the end of 1887
the disintegration in the Knights of Labor had reached an ad-
vanced stage. The tide of the uprising, which in half a year
had carried the Order from 150,000 to over 700,000 members,
began to ebb before the beginning of 1887 and the membership
had diminished to 510^351 by July 1. While a share of this
51 Chicago Ldbor Enquirer, June 25, 53 Ibid., 11,
1887. 54 Ibid,
52 American Federation of Labor, Pro-
ceedings, 1887, pp. 25, 26.
414 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
retrogression may have been due to the natural reaction of
large masses of people who had been suddenly set in motion
without experience, a more immediate cause came from the
employers. Profiting by the lessons of May, they organised
strong associations and began a policy of discriminations and
lockouts, directed mainly against the Knights. " Since May
last," said John Swinton in September, ^^ many corporations
and Employers' Associations have been resorting to all sorts of
unusual expedients to break up the labor organisations whose
strength has become so great within the past two or three years.
Sometimes they attack them in the front, but more often on
the flanks or in the rear. Sometimes they make an assault in
force, and sometimes lay siege to the works ; but more often they
seek to carry their point by petty subterfuges that can be car-
ried on for a long time without arousing resistance." ^^
The form of organisation of these employers' associations
clearly indicated that their main object was the defeat of the
Knights. They were organised sectionally and nationally, but
the opposing force, the district assembly, operated over only a
limited area. In small localities, where the power of the
Knights was especially great, all employers regardless of in-
dustry joined in one association. But in large manufactur-
ing centres, where the rich corporation prevailed, they included
the employers of only one industry as, for instance, the associa-
tion of shoe manufacturers of Worcester County, Massachusetts,
or the Manufacturing Knit Goods Association of New York
State.^^ An exception to this rule was the state employers'
association in Ehode Island, which was a general association.
The common object of these associations was to eradicate
whatever form of organisation existed among the wage-earners.
For instance, the association of shirt manufacturers of James-
burg, New Jersey, locked out 2,000 employes when it was dis-
covered that they had joined the Knights.'^'^ Likewise the
manufacturers of silver goods of New York, Brooklyn, and
Providence formed an association and locked out 1,200 men for
joining the Knights.^^ It is therefore not surprising that the
66 John Swinton'a Paper, Sept. 5, 1886. 67 New Jersey Bureau of Labor, Report,
66 Philadelphia Journal of United La- 1886, p. 200,
l>Qr, Jan, 22, X887, and Apr. 2, 1887, 58 Philadelphia Journal of United La-
bor, Apr. 80, 1887.
EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATIONS 415
associations generally refused to negotiate with the Order and
to arbitrate disputes. In an appeal for aid issued by the
Knights of Labor in 1886, instances where employers refused
+0 negotiate were cited in Georgia, Massachusetts, Delaware,
Montana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Missis-
sippi.^^ Out of 76 attempts at arbitration investigated by the
Illinois Bureau of Labour, 38 offers were rejected — 6 by labour
and 32 by capital.*'^ The New York commissioner of labour
affirmed that the irreconcilable attitude of the employers was
" the first obstacle in the way of successful introduction of arbi-
tration." ^^ Trade agreements, where they were entered into,
were held no more sacred by the employers than by the rank and
file of the Knights. For instance, the association of leather
manufacturers of Newark, New Jersey, which had entered into
a trade agreement with the leather workers' council of the
Knights, selected one of its members to violate it, assisted him
in the hire of strike-breakers, turned over to him a large por-
tion of the work of the other members, and forthwith ordered a
systematic discharge of the organised men.^^
Other important elements in this policy of repression were
the blacklist, the " iron-clad," and the use of Pinkerton de-
tectives. The following is a typical case. The Champion
Keaper Company of Springfield, Ohio, locked out its 1,200
employes upon discovering that they were members of the
Knights, and, with the exception of a small number who were
blacklisted, the remainder were permitted to return to work
upon signing an " iron-clad " oath never to belong to a labour or-
ganisation. The common use of the blacklist is confirmed by
the bureaus of labour of Ohio, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and
New Jersey.
The Pinkerton detectives, who had first begun to specialise in
labour disputes during the seventies, now became an almost in-
dispensable factor. A confidential circular sent arpund by
the Pinkerton agency to employers, announced that r corpora-
tions or individuals desirous of ascertaining the feeling of their
employees, and whether they are likely to engage in strikes or
60 Circular entitled Appeal for Aid 61 New York Bureau of Labor, Report,
(Philadelphia, Sept. 10, 1886), 1885, p. 366.
60 niinois Bureau of Labor, Report, 62 Philadelphia Journal of United La-
1886, p. 419. hor, Sept. 24, 1887. This is corroborated
by accounts in local papers.
416 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
are joining any secret labor organisations with a view of com-
pelling terms from corporations or employers, can obtain, on ap-
plication to the superintendent of either of the offices, a detec-
tive suitable to associate with their employees and obtain this
information." ®^ /
Notwithstanding the wide-spread and bitter hostility between
the employers and the Knights, the movement resulted in a con-
siderable number of trade agreements with employers' associa-
tions and with individual employers. The national officers of
the Order strongly urged the idea of conciliation and trade
agreement. In 1885 they induced the General Assembly to de-
clare in favour of compulsory arbitration.^^ Ralph Beaumont,
chief lobbyist for the Order before Congress, explained the long-
continued and steady demand for the incorporation of trade
unions on the ground that it would give the Order a legal right
to speak for its members in the proceedings of compulsory arbi-
tration.^"^ It is true that, when, following the Southwest and
eight-hour strikes, the leaders realised that public opinion had
turned against the Knights, the demand for compulsory arbitra-
tion was rescinded.^^ Still there can be no better proof of the
strong partiality of the leaders in the Order for trade agree-
ments.
Trade agreements multiplied, especially beginning with 1887.
They generally provided for the recognition of the Order and of
the authority of its chosen committees, prohibited discrimina-
tion against Knights, and obligated the employer to submit to
arbitration in the case of disagreement with his employes.
They included no closed-shop provision, and the employer re-
tained the right to discharge Knights for any good cause, ex-
cept incompetence, in which case he had to arbitrate. Other
agreements also included specific provisions for wages and
hours.
However, the trade agreement was the exception; the rule
was the strike and the lock-out.
The control over strikes was an important question for the
organisation. As in previous years, contributions to the " de-
cs This circulfir fell into the hands of C5 Philadelphia Journal of United La-
Joseph R. Buchanan, who made it public. bor, Sept. 10, 1887.
Philadelphia Journal of United Labor, 66 General Assembly, Proceedings, Spe-
Nov. 25, 1885. cial Session, 1886, p. 41.
64 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1885,
p. 164.
STRIKES 417
fence " fund were compulsory, and each district assembly ad-
ministered the fund separately. Each one, however, was liable
to an assessment by the General Executive Board for the relief
of any district assembly whose funds had been exhausted by
reason of lockouts or strikes.^ ^ But this provision was in no
case carried out, for each district assembly had its fund con-
stantly depleted by its own strikes. The complete control of
strikes by district assemblies was at once a source of strength
and of weakness for the Order; of strength, because the local
freedom to strike aided the extension of the organisation; of
weakness, because it prevented concentrated efforts by the Order
as a. whole. But prior to the great mass movement of 1886, the
dark side of local strike autonomy was not yet obvious. The
Order was more careful in the matter of the boycott. Absolute
local autonomy in boycotting stood more open to abuse than it
did in striking, since the boycott had a tendency to spread be-
yond local limits and was inexpensive to its originators. So in
1885, the General Executive Board was given jurisdiction over
all boycotts that were not strictly local. The General Assembly
adopted a rule providing that as long as a boycott affected no
one outside of the territory of a local, district, or state assembly,
these respective units should retain '^ the privilege to institute
a boycott." In all other cases the approval of the general ex-
ecutive board was made imperative.^^
The disputes during the second half of 1886 ended, for the
most part, disastrously to labour. The number of men involved
in 7 months, as estimated by Bradstreet's, was 97,300. Of
these, about 75,300 were in 9 great lockouts, of whom 54,000
suffered defeat ^^ at the hands of associated employers. The
most important lockouts were against 15,000 laundry workers
at Troy, New York, in June, 20,000 Chicago packing-house
workers, and 20,000 knitters at Cohoes and Amsterdam, ^N^ew
York, both in October.
67 General Assembly Constitution raised to 499,489 for strikers and 101,980
(1884), Art. XV, Sec. 5. for lockouts in the reports of the Federal
68 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1885, department of labor. However, Brad-
p. 162. street's figures are summarised by months
69 Exclusive of the small disputes which and are accompanied by a more or less
Bradstreet's did not tabulate. The total detailed description of the disputes, and
number of strikers in 1886, as given by are, therefore, to be preferred for the pres-
Bradstreet's, was 448,000, and of the ent use. Bradstreet's, Jan. 8, 1887.
locked-out, 80,000, but these figures were
418 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN THg UNITED STATES
The Troy lockout grew out of a strike on May 15, 1886, for
higher wages by 180 women. These women had been organised
shortly before as the " Joan of Arc '^ assembly of the Knights
of Labor. Immediately the employers, who sensed in this
demand the beginning of a general movement, united in a
manufacturers' association and, on May 18, declared a general
lockout against the members of the Knights of Labor. Al-
though only one-sixth of those employed in the industry were
Knights, the others left work. After five weeks. General Secre-
tary Hayes accepted the price list presented by the manufac-
turers' association and the lockout and strike were called off.^^
The lockout in the knit goods industry at Amsterdam and Co-
hoes, New York, arose on the ground that an apprentice had
been promoted to take charge of a new machine. There existed
a contract previously entered into by Barry, of the executive
board of the Knights of Labor, and the trade manufacturers'
association of fifty-eight leading firms, which provided for the
open shop and gave to the employer the unlimited right of dis-
charging and promoting men. However^ the district master
workman of District Assembly 104 declared that his assembly
had not been a party to the agreement, and, notwithstanding
Powderly's injunction, declared a strike against the mill. This
immediately led to a general lockout of the Knights, October
16. Barry and T. B. McGuire, the latter of District Assembly
49, took charge of the dispute and succeeded for over five
months in preventing a large portion of the locked-out from go-
ing back to work on the conditions prescribed by the employers.
Early in May, 1887, the strike was declared off.''^^
More wide-spread attention than either the Troy or Cohoes
lockout was attracted by the lockout of 20,000 Chicago butcher
workmen. These men had obtained the eight-hour day without
a strike during May. A short time thereafter, upon the initi-
ative of Armour & Company, the employers formed a packers'
association and, in the beginning of October, notified the men of
a return to the ten-hour day on October 11. They justified this
action on the ground that they could not compete with Cincin-
nati and Kansas City, which operated on the ten-hour system.
70 New York Bureau of Labor, Beporf, 7i Tbid., 1887, pp. 317-822; Brad-
1886, pp. 544-651. ttreet't, Jan. 8. 1887.
STEIKES 419
On October 8, tlie men, who were organised in District Assem-
lies 27 and 54, suspended work, and the memorable lockout
began. The negotiations were conducted by T. P. Barry, who
had been especially commissioned by the General Assembly then
in session in Richmond, and M. J. Butler, the master workman
of District Assembly 54. The packers' association, however,
rejected all offers of compromise and, October 18, Barry ordered
the men to work on the ten-hour basis. But the dispute in
October, which was marked by a complete lack of ill feeling
on the part of the men and was one of the most peaceable labour
disputes of the year, was in reality a mere prelude to a second
disturbance which broke out in the plant of Swift & Company,
on November 2, and became general throughout the stock yards
on November 6. The men demanded a return to the eight-hour
day, but the packers' association, which was not joined by Swift
& Company, who formerly had kept aloof, not only refused to
give up the ten-hour day, but declared that they would employ
no Knights of Labor in the future. The Knights retaliated by
declaring a boycott on the meat of Armour & Company. The
behaviour of the men was now no longer peaceable, as before,
and the employers took extra precautions by prevailing upon the
governor to send two regiments of militia in addition to the sev-
eral hundred Pinkerton detectives employed by the association.
To all appearances, the men were slowly gaining over the em-
ployers, for, on November 10, the packers' association rescinded
its decision not to employ Knights, when suddenly on November
15, like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, a telegram arrived from
Powderly ordering the men back to work. Powderly had re-
fused to consider the reports from Barry and Carlton, the mem-
bers of the General Executive Board who were on the ground,
but, as was charged by Barry, was guided instead by the advice
of a priest who had appealed to him to call off the strike and thus
put an end to the suffering of the men and their families. ''^^
The outcome of the Chicago packing-house lockout not only
aided materially in reducing the organisation in Chicago, but
it had a demoralising effect elsewhere. It taught the lesson that
the centralised form of government in the Order, which meant
72 Compiled from the Chicago Timet Labor Enquirer, Nov. 20 and 27, and
and other general papers; also John Swin- Dec. 25, 1886.
ton's Paper, Nov. 14, 1886; the Denver
420 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
practically a one-man government, was bound up with the great-
est danger. Powderly did not possess the aggressive qualifica-
tions required for a successful leader in strikes. His eight-
hour circular, his telegram in the Chicago lockout, and his
later refusal to allow the Order to plead for mercy for the con-
demned Chicago anarchists, "^^ show that, in his reverence for
public opinion and especially the opinion of the general press,
he had come to overlook the sentiments of the masses whom he
led. At a time when his organisation was coming to the front
as the fighting organisation of a new class, he endeavoured to
play the diplomatist rather than the fighting general.
The Chicago packers' lockout showed in an unfavourable light
the centralised form of government. It remained for the great
New York strike in January, 1887, to reveal the drawbacks and
inefficiency of the mixed district assembly.
The strike began as two separate strikes, one by coal handlers
at the Jersey ports supplying New York with coal, and the other
by 'longshoremen on the New York water front, both starting
on January 1, 1887. Eighty-five coal handlers employed by
the Philadelphia & Beading Railroad Company, members of
the Knights of Labor, struck against a reduction of 2% cents
an hour in the wages of the " top-men," and were joined by the
trimmers with grievances of their own. Soon the strike spread
to the other roads, and the number of striking coal-handlers
reached 3,000. The 'longshoremen's strike was begun by 200
men, employed by the Old Dominion Steamship Company,
against a reduction in wages and the hiring of cheap men by the
week. The strikers were not organised, but the Ocean Associa-
tion, Knights of Labor, took up their case and was assisted by
the 'longshoremen's union. Both strikes soon widened out
through a series of sympathetic strikes of related trades and
finally became united into one. The Ocean Association,
Knights of Labor, declared a boycott on the freight of the Old
Dominion Company, and this was strictly obeyed by all of the
'longshoremen's unions. The International Boatmen's Union
refused to allow their boats to be used for " scab coal " or to
permit their members to steer the companies' boats. The
73 At the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor at Minneapolis held in
October, 1887.
STRIKES 421
'longshoremen joined the boatmen in refusing to handle coal,
and the shovellers followed. Then the grain handlers on both
floating and stationary elevators refused to load ships with grain
on which there was scab coal, and the bag-sewers stood with
them. The 'longshoremen now resolved to go out and refused
to work on ships which received scab coal, and finally they de-
cided to stop work altogether on all kinds of craft in the harbour
until the trouble should be settled. The strike spirit spread to
a large number of freight handlers working for railroads along
the river front, so that in the last week of January the number
of strikers in 'New York, Brooklyn, and E'ew Jersey reached
approximately 28,000: 13,000 'longshoremen, 1,000 boatmen,
6,000 grain handlers, 7,500 coal-handlers, and 400 bag-sewers.
Master Workman Quinn, with his aides de camp in District
Assembly 49, was in complete control of the strike from the be-
ginning and had the active sympathy of the Central Labor
Union and the trade unions.
On February 11, August Corbin, president and receiver of
the Philadelphia & Eeading Railroad Company, fearing a strike
by the miners working in the coal mines operated by that road,
settled with District Assembly 49 and restored to the eighty-
five coal-handlers, the original strikers, their former rate of
wages. District Assembly 49 felt impelled to accept such a
trivial settlement for two reasons. The coal strike, which drove
up the price of coal to the consumer, was very unpopular, and
the strike itself had begun to weaken when the brewers and sta-
tionary engineers had refused to come out on the demand of
the assembly. The situation was thus unchanged, as far as the
coal handlers employed by the other companies, the 'longshore-
men, and the many thousands of men who went out on sympa-
thetic strike, were concerned. The men began to return to
work by the thousands and the entire strike collapsed.'^* Swin-
ton attributed the failure to the grave blundering of the com-
mittee leaders in District Assembly 49, who, instead of calling
out the railroad men and thus stopping all traffic at once, or-
dered out the engineers and brewers, who could help but little
and stood to sacrifice their agreements with their employers.
Although Swinton ordinarily refrained from taking sides in the
74 New York Bureau of Labor, Report, 1887, pp. 327-385,
422 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
internal fights of tlie labour movement, he summarised the out-
come of this strike as follows : '^^ " We do most sincerely re-
gret the unfortunate collapse of the great strikes along
shore. . . . We are not surprised to hear of the deep and wide
dissatisfaction with those braggarts and bunglers who so often
forced themselves to the front as ' strike managers ' for District
Assembly 49, and whose final subterfuges were the laughing
stock of the satanic press; but it is to be regretted that the
powerful District must be made to suffer through such obtrusive
incompetency as we have seen. We trust that the organised
labor of New York will never again be damaged as it has been
by such displays. Tens of thousands of poor men made sacri-
fices during the strike, without either whining or boasting."
The determined attack and stubborn resistance of the em-
ployers' associations after the strikes of May, 1886, coupled with
the incompetence displayed by the leaders, caused the turn of
the tide in the labour movement in the first half of 1887. This,
however, manifested itself during 1887 exclusively in the large
cities, where the movement had borne in the purest form the
character of an uprising of the class of the unskilled and where
the hardest battles were fought with the employers. District
Assembly 49, New York, fell from its membership of 60,809,
in June, 1886, to 32,826 in July, 1887. During the same in-
terval. District Assembly 1, Philadelphia, decreased from 51,557
to 11,294 and District Assembly 30 Boston, from 81,197 to
31,644. In Chicago there were about 40,000 Knights immedi-
ately before the packers' strike in October, 1886, and only about
17,000 on July 1, 1887. The falling off of the largest district
assemblies in 10 large cities practically equalled the total loss
of the Order, which amounted approximately to 191,000, of
whom not more than 20,000 ^® can be accounted for as having
withdrawn to trade assemblies, national or district. At the
same time the membership of the smallest district assemblies,
which were for the most part located in small cities, remained
stationary and, outside of the national and district trade assem-
blies which were formed by separation from mixed district
assemblies, thirty-seven new district assemblies were formed,
75 John Swinton'a Paper, Feb. 20, 1887. and the district trade assemblies in July,
76 The total membership of the national 1887, reached over 50,000.
DECLINE OF KNIGHTS 423
also mostly in small localities. In addition, state assemblies
were added in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas,
Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia,
and Wisconsin, with an average membership of about 2,000
each. Balancing these new extensions, however, was a decrease
from 122,027 to 61,936 in the total membership of the local
assemblies directly affiliated with the General Assembly J^
It thus becomes clear that, by the middle of 1887, the Great
Upheaval of the unskilled and semi-skilled portions of the work-
ing class had already subsided beneath the strength of the com-
bined employers and the centralisation and unwieldiness of
their own organisation. After 1887 the Knights of Labor lost
their hold upon the large cities with their wage-conscious and
largely foreign population, and became an organisation pre-
dominantly of country people, of mechanics, small merchants,
and farmers, an element more or less purely American and de-
cidedly middle-class in its philosophy. This change serves,
more than anything else, to account for the subsequent close
affiliation between the Order and the " Farmers' Alliance," as
well as for the whole-hearted support which it gave to the Peo-
ple's party.
In contrast to the Knights of Labor, the trade unions met
with some success in strikes and lockouts. The great lockout
of the building trades in Chicago, May, 1887, although it ended
in defeat, nevertheless showed the superiority of the trade union
form of organisation. It came about when the bricklayers'
union, without consulting the employers, adopted a resolution
providing for the payment of wages at the end of each week and
77 The following shows the decrease in membership in good standing of ten district
assemblies from July, 1886, to July, 1887:
No. of Name of Membership, Membership, Decrease
D.A. City July 1, '86 Jidyl,'87
1 Philadelphia 51,557 11,294 40,263
24 Chicago 12,868 10,483 2,385
30 Boston 81,191 31,644 49,547
41 Baltimore 18,297 7,549 10,748
49 New York City 60,809 32,826 27,983
51 Newark 10,958 4,766 6,192
77 Lynn, Mass 10,838 2,450 8,388
86 Portland 19,493 4,930 14,563
95 Hartford 14,148 5,622 8,526
99 Providence 11,512 1,735 9,777
Total decrease . 178,372
Proceedings, 1886, pp. 326-328, and Proceedings, 1887, pp. 1847-1850.
424 HISTOEY OF LABOUK IN THE UNITED STATES
on Saturday. This trivial demand, coming as one among many
manifestations of the tyrannical policy pursued by the union,
served to unite all associations of employers in the city and
they ordered a general lockout of all the building trades, affect-
ing 30,000 men.^^ The bricklayers' union had considered itself
so strongly entrenched that it not only had refused to affiliate
with the building trades' council of the city, but also had re-
garded its affiliation with the Bricklayers' International Union
as an " entangling alliance." It was obliged to go into the
struggle practically single-handed. On the other hand there
was perfect unanimity among the employers. The Illinois
Association of Architects and the material-men's association
acted together with the other masters' associations in support
of the master masons' association. The lockout lasted from
May 10 to June 11, and ended in the defeat of the union, which
was obliged to give up the closed shop. But the most impor-
tant outcome was a written trade agreement providing for the
regular annual election of a standing committee of arbitration
with full power to " hear all evidence in complaint and griev-
ances . . . and which shall finally decide all questions sub-
mitted, and shall certify by the umpire such decisions to the
respective organisations " ; and, further, '^ work shall go on con-
tinuously, and all parties interested shall be governed by the
award made or dedisions rendered." '^^ This system remained
in vogue until 1897.
The Chicago lockout was materially helped by the national
association of builders, a federation of builders' exchanges em-
bracing general contractors, sub-contractors, and material-men,
which had been established through the efforts of William H.
Say ward of Boston, in January, 1887, avowedly as a result of
the aggressive movement of the unions in the building trades
during 1886. The strongest evidence of the progress made by
these unions may be found in the attitude of the National Asso-
ciation of Builders. While it expressly declared in the pre-
amble against the closed shop, it urged at the same time the
policy of recognising the unions.®*^ Contrast with this the ir-
78 The carpenters had shortly before 79 Second Annual Convention of Na-
gained the eight-hour day with reduced tional Association of Builders of America,
wages and 3,000 hod-carriers were still Proceedings, 1888, p. 21,
on strike for higher wages. so Ibid., 1887, p. 110.
COAL MINERS 425
reconcilable attitude of the employers who formed associations
in the industries organised by the Knights of Labor. While
the superiority of the position of the building trades' union was
largely due to the intrinsic advantages of the industry, such as
the absence of national competition between employers and the
high skill demanded from the employes, still the trade union
form of organisation could but gain in the esteem of the labour-
ing masses.
Another instance of the rather tentative success of trade
unionism in achieving a trade agreement system occurred in the
bituminous mining industry.*^ During the early eighties the
miners in what is known as the central competitive field ^^ were
organised either as assemblies of the Knights of Labor or as
state unions, but all of these were of short duration and suc-
cumbed after strikes. The miners in this region were still in
the main English-speaking or had come from North European
countries. The leaders of the miners' unions thoroughly un-
derstood the necessity for organisation upon a national scale.
In the general assemblies of the Knights of Labor in 1880 and
1881 an unsuccessful effort was made to secure the appointment
of a special salaried organiser for the coal miners of the coun-
try. In 1883 the General Assembly made provision for such
an organiser. Finally, in 1885, the National Federation of
Miners and Mine Laborers of the United States was formed
at a convention attended by delegates from local unions in Penn-
sylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and
Kansas. It was an organisation independent of the Knights of
Labor and was brought into existence through the refusal by
the General Executive Board to allow the coal miners to form
a national trade assembly.^^ Within a year after the organisa-
tion of this federation, the Knights of Labor chartered a na-
tional trade assembly of the coal miners, known as National
Trade Assembly 135.^^ The miners had desired the establish-
81 In the following account of the early the eighties, Pennsylvania produced one-
trade agreement system in the bituminous half of the total bituminous coal mined
mining industry the author drew largely in the country, Ohio was second, and Uli-
from an unpublished monograph by E. E, nois, Maryland, Missouri, West Virginia,
Witte, Unionism Among Coal Miners in Iowa, Indiana, and Kentucky followed in
the United States, 1880-1910. the order named.
82 Includes western Pennsylvania, West 83 United Mine Workers, Proceedings,
Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and, in a 1911, I, 581.
less recognised degree, also Michigan, 84 Roy, History of the Goal Miners, 263.
southeast Kentucky, and Iowa, During
426 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ment of a national union, because, as stated in the preamble to
the constitution of the national federation, *^ neither district
nor State unions can regulate the markets to which their coal
is shipped." ^^ In 1886, however, they had not one but two
unions claiming national jurisdiction. In most mining dis-
tricts both organisations were represented, yet, in spite of their
intense rivalry, the two co-operated in a sufficient measure to
become joint parties to an interstate trade agreement with the
mine operators in a conference at Columbus, Ohio, January,
1886. This conference was attended by operators from Penn-
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and perhaps, also from
West Virginia.^^ Representatives of the miners were present
from all these States, and also from Maryland.
As a result of the deliberations of this conference an inter-
state agreement was drawn up between the miners and the oper-
ators, covering the wages which were to prevail throughout the
central competitive field from May 1, 1886, to April 30, 1887.
The scale established would seem to have been dictated by the
wish to give the markets of the central competitive field to the
Ohio operators.^ ^ That Ohio was favoured in the scale estab-
lished by this first interstate conference can be explained by the
fact that more than half of the operators present came from
Ohio, and that the chief strength of the miners' union, also, lay
in that State. To prevent friction over the interpretation
of the interstate agreement, a board of arbitration and con-
ciliation was established.^* This board consisted of 5 miners
and 5 operators chosen at large, and 1 miner and 1 operator
from each of the States of this field. Such a board of arbitra-
tion and conciliation was provided for in all of the interstate
agreements of the period of the eighties. During the entire
period of the existence of this board, its secretary was Chris
Evans, who served, also, in the same capacity for the miners'
union. This system of interstate trade agreement, in spite of
the cutthroat competition raging between operators, was main-
tained for Pennsylvania and Ohio practically until 1890, Illi-
nois having been lost in 1887, and Indiana, in 1888. It formed
86 U. S. Bureau of Labor, Eleventh Spe- scale of mining rates for the year printed
cial Report on " Regulation and Restric- in the report on the " Regulation and Re-
tion of Output," 386. striction of Output," 387,
86 Roy, Hittory of the Ooal Miners, 256. 88 American Federationiat, August,
87 This conclusion is based upon the 1894, p, 115.
NATIONAL TRADE ASSEMBLY 427
the real predecessor of the system established in 1898 and in
vogue at the present time.
The apparent superiority of the trade union form of organi-
sation over the mixed organisation, as revealed by events in
1886 and 1887, strengthened the tendency on the part of the
more skilled and better organised trades in the Knights of
Labor to separate themselves from the mixed district assem-
blies and to create national trade assemblies. Just as the
struggle between the Knights of Labor and the trade unions
on the outside had been fundamentally a struggle between
the unskilled and the skilled portions of the wage-earning
class, so the aspiration toward the national trade assembly within
the Order represented the effort of the more or less skilled men
for emancipation from the dominance of the unskilled. The
ups and downs of the struggle bear out this conclusion.
Prior to 1884 several national trade assemblies existed under
the guise either of a local assembly, such as Local Assembly 300,
which, as we have seen, was a national organisation of window-
glass workers admitted in 1880, or of a trade district, as for in-
stance. District Assembly 45, the national union of telegraphers
which became affiliated in 1883. During 1884, shortly before
the rush of the unskilled into the Order, the ideas of the skilled
men were gradually receiving recognition. In accordance with
this the General Assembly of 1884 specifically authorised the
formation of national trade assemblies. During the next year,
however, with the predominance acquired by the unskilled, the
policy changed. Powderly in his address at the General As-
sembly in 1885, said: "I do not favour the establishment of
any more National Trade Districts; they are a step backward
in the direction of the old form of trade union. . . . We should
discourage them in the future." ^®
So it continued until the defeat of the mixed district assem-
blies or, in other words, of the unskilled class, in the struggle
with the employers. With the withdrawal of a very large por-
tion of this class, as shown by the membership figures for 1887,
the demand for the national trade assembly revived, and there
soon began a veritable rush to organise by trades. The stam-
pede was strongest in the city of New York where the incompe-
89 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1885, p. 25.
428 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
tence of the mixed District Assembly 49 liad become patent.
x\t the General Assembly in 1887, 22 national trade and district
assemblies were represented with a total membership of over
52,000 (out of 511,000), of which number 21,230 were coal
miners organised in National Trade Assembly 135 and over
17,000 were distributed among the various organisations in
New York and Brooklyn. ^^ The report of the New Jersey
Bureau of Labor for 1887 enumerates the following trades in
the Knights of Labor organised as national trade assemblies:
axe and edge tool makers, bookbinders, cigar makers, file makers,
garment cutters, hatters, iron and steel workers, leather workers,
lithographers, machinery constructors, miners, painters, paper
hangers, plumbers, gas and steam-fitters, potters, seamen, silk
workers, surface railroad men, steam railroad employes, glass
blowers, shoemakers, stationary engineers and firemen, textile
workers, and printers. ^^
All these national and district trade assemblies had been or-
ganised under the rules adopted in 1884, which merely provided
that the General Executive Board " may " gTant the permission,
and furthermore that each local assembly must obtain from the
district assembly to which it belongs the permission to join a
national trade assembly. At the General Assembly in 1887 at
Minneapolis, the rules were amended in the sense that it was
made obligatory upon the General Executive Board to grant
such a permission, and the consent of the district assembly was
not only no longer required, but it was even made compulsory
upon all local trade assemblies to withdraw from the mixed
district and to enter the national trade assembly as soon as one
was established in a particular trade. The national trade as-
sembly was also given full authority in the matter of initiation
fee, strikes, apprenticeship regulations, etc., limited only by the
provisions of the general constitution of the Order.^^
Thus the claims of the skilled men finally achieved full recog-
nition from the Knights of Labor, and P. J. McGuire was not
far from right when he asserted in October, 1887, that " the
Knights of Labor are now taking lessons from the Trade
00 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1887, 92 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1887,
pp. 1847-1850. p. 1800.
91 New Jersey Bureau of Labor, Be-
port, 1887, p. 9.
NATIONAL TRADE ASSEMBLY 429
Unions, and are forming themselves on National Trade Dis-
trict lines, which are simply the skeletons of trade unioiis with-
out either their flesh or blood." ®^ He would not have been
wrong had he predicted that the national trade assemblies would
soon break away from the Order.
93 Carpenter, October, 1887, p. 4.
CHAPTER XI
THE FAILURE OF CO-OPERATION, 1884-1887
Attitude towards co-operation of the several component elements of the
Knights of Labor, 430. The inheritance from the sixties, 430. Powderly's
attitude, 431. Co-operation in the early eighties, 431. Centralised co-
operation, 432. Change to decentralised co-operation, 432. Statistics and
nature of the co-operative enterprises, 433. Sectional distribution, 434.
Co-operation among the coopers in Minneapolis, 434. The General Co-
operative Board, 435. John Samuel, 435. Difficulties of the Board, 436.
Participation by the Order, 436. The failure of the movement, 437. Its
causes, 437. The lesson for the future, 438.
Although strikes and boycotts undoubtedly were the chief
recruiting activities of the Knights, the deliberately planned
policy of the Order, as a whole, was directed chiefly to co-opera-
tion. Occupying, as it did the foreground in the official pro-
gramme of the Order, co-operation had also the additional merit
of being well suited to the period of industrial depression when
strikes were failing. The new and unskilled membership,
though interested only in industrial warfare against employers,
had no desire to quarrel with the official philosophy of the or-
ganisation to which it looked for economic salvation.
The active champions of co-operation, however, came from
the older membership. Among these, first in importance were
the machine-menaced mechanics, notably the machinists and
shoemakers, whose national trade organisations of the sixties
and seventies had disappeared. They furnished the national
leaders, such as Powderly, formerly a member of the machinists'
and blacksmiths' national union, and Beaumont and Litchman,
former members of the order of the Knights of St. Crispin.
They also supplied the official philosophy of the Order. In
their control they formed in every way the connecting link be-
tween the movement in the eighties and that of the trade unions
of the sixties. The trade unionist of the sixties had been by
nature a small employer rather than a wage-earner. He had
not only aspired to become an employer in the future, but, in
430
KNIGHTS AND CO-OPERATION 431
many instances, he actually employed unskilled helpers for
wages. It was, therefore, natural that he should have favoured
measures, such as cheap money and co-operation, which he
thought would help in raising him up to the status of employer.
On this account he was willing to extend political aid to the
farmers, for he felt that he belonged potentially, if not ac-
tually, to the class of independent producers. These ideas of
the sixties were carried over to the eighties by the leaders of the
Knights. They found ready response among the small-town
skilled mechanics and purely middle-class elements, represented
by the small merchants, petty employers, and farmers, who had
succeeded in finding their way into the Order.
Powderly, in each of his reports to the General Assembly,
consistently urged that practical steps be taken toward co-op-
eration.^ The movers for co-operation had witnessed the down-
fall of the decentralised productive co-operation of the sixties,
and the plan now espoused was a centralised one. Its motto
was : " Co-operation of the Order, by the Order and for the
Order." It started out with the organisation of consumers to
create a market for the productive establishments that were
to follow. The entire undertaking was to be financed from the
dues of the membership of the Order, and, of course, was to
be under its control. ^
Notwithstanding the exhortations by Powderly, the Order
was slow in taking up co-operation. In 1882 a general co-opera-
tive board was elected to work out a plan of action, but it never
reported, and a new board was chosen in its place at the as-
sembly of 1883. In that year, the first practical step was taken
in the purchase by the Order of a coal mine at Cannelburg,
Indiana, with the idea of selling the coal at reduced prices to
the members.^
Soon, however, a thorough change of sentiment with regard
to the whole matter of co-operation took place, contemporane-
ously with the industrial depression and the great and unsuc-
cessful strikes. The rank and file, which had hitherto been
indifferent, now seized upon the idea with enthusiasm. A mem-
ber of Local Assembly 1279, West Virginia, writes : " Co-
1 See above, II, 351.
2 General Assembly, Proceedmge, 1884, p. 601.
3 Ibid., 625-640.
432 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
operation is what we want, as strikes have proved a failure
here and broke up our Order very near every time. The mem-
bers here are tired of strikes, they want to try something else." *
The Illinois commissioner of labour writes that wage-earners
" are not infrequently forced into [co-operation] ... by rea-
son of discriminations against them by employers. Especially
is this true of productive enterprises, many of which are the
direct result of unsuccessful strikes and the blacklisting which
has followed them. . . ." ^ The enthusiasm ran so high in
Lynn, Massachusetts, that it was found necessary to raise the
shares of the Knights of Labor Co-operative Shoe Company
to $100 in order to prevent a large influx of " unsuitable mem-
bers." ^ In 1885 Powderly complained that ^^ many of our
members grow impatient and unreasonable because every avenue
of the Order does not lead to co-operation." '''
The demand for immediate attempts at co-operation, which
manifested itself about this time among the rank and file in
practically every section of the country, caused an important
modification in the official doctrine of the Order. Under the
older plan of centralised action, it would have taken years be-
fore a large portion of the membership could realise any con-
siderable benefit. This was now dropped and the decentralised
plan was adopted. Local assemblies and, more frequently
groups of members with the financial aid of their assembly,
now began to establish work shops, and, to a lesser extent,
stores. Most of the enterprises were managed by the stock-
holders, although, in some cases, the assemblies managed the
plants. One notable illustration of management by the or-
ganisation was that of District Assembly 49, New York. The
management was conducted with the utmost secrecy. The hold-
ers of shares were not given either a voice or a vote. The
money was invested by a committee chosen by District As-
sembly 49. No interest was paid on the stock, but the shares
were to be redeemed in the course of time and the ownership
of the plant to remain with the employes. On the basis of this
4 Philadelphia Journal of United La- land," in Johns Hopkins University
bor, Jan. 1, 1884. Studies, 1886, VI, 87.
5 Illinois Bureau of Labor, Report, 7 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1885,
1886. p. 461. p. 22.
6 Bemis, " Co-operation in New Eng-
CO-OPERATION 433
plan, District Assembly 49 formed the Solidarity Co-operative
Association of the Knights of Labor, which association sold
shares without designating in what industry the money would
be invested. The committee on co-operation invested the money
as it saw fit. With this power, the committee sought to establish
a complete co-operative scheme, and they financed a cigar fac-
tory, fancy leather goods shop, plumbing shop, publishing asso-
ciation, printing shop, watch-case factory, building association,
marketing association, etc.^ The plan was worked out by Vic-
tor Drury, a Frenchman, who had migrated as a refugee after
the Paris Commune in 1871. As a former Blanquist, he re-
tained a strong predilection for secrecy. He was also re-
sponsible for the secret " Home Club " which ruled District As-
sembly 49.
Most of the co-operative enterprises were conducted on a
small scale. Incomplete statistics warrant the conclusion that
the average amount invested per establishment was about $10,-
000.^ From the data gathered it seems that co-operation
reached its highest point in 1886, although it had not com-
pletely spent itself by the end of 1887.^^ The largest number
of ventures were in mining, cooperage, and shoes. These in-
dustries paid the poorest wages and their employes were the
most harshly treated. A comparatively small amount of cap-
ital was required to organise such establishments.
8 Bemis, " Co-operation in the Middle 9 niinois Bureau of Labor, Report,
States," in Johns Hopkins University 1886, pp. 457—460.
Studies, 1888, VI, 162.
10 Following is an incomplete list of the co-operative ventures of this period:
Mining 22 Laundries 2
Coopers 15 Carpets
Shoes 14 Bakers
Clothing 8 Leather
Foundries 8 Leather goods
Soap 6 Plumbing
Furniture workers 5 Harness
Cigar 5 Watch case
Glass 5 Pipes
Knitting 3 Brass works
Nail mills 3 Pottery
Tobacco 3 Wagon
Planing mills 3 Refining
Tailoring 2 Caskets
Hats 2 Brooms
Printing 2 Pottery
Agricultural implements 2 Ice
Painters 2 Packing
Matches 2
Baking powder 2 Total 135
Carpentering 2
434 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The large majority of co-operative enterprises were located
in the Central and Eastern States. Amos G. Warner, who in
1888 investigated co-operation in the Middle West, writes:
". . . the great majority of organised laborers in this section
of the country believe in co-operation, and are making very
practical and very vigorous efforts to help forward ^ the
cause.' " 11
The movement was rather weak on the Pacific coast and in
the Southern States. The lukewarmness toward co-operation
on the Pacific coast is explained by Shinn, as follows : '^ The
Pacific Coast states and territories have been so prosperous,
and their immense natural resources have offered such unusual
opportunities to individual labour, that the principles of co-
operation have not made much headway as yet, and, perhaps,
cannot for years to come. The working classes are far from
being ready for such organisations." ^^ With the exception of
Maryland, the reason for the lack of a wide-spread movement
toward co-operation in the South is accounted for by its late
industrial development. ^^
Dr. Albert Shaw, who in 1888 personally investigated the co-
operative movement of the coopers in Minneapolis, brings out
its middle-class nature in the following words :
" It may be worth while to remark that co-operation is not a re-
ligion with these coopers. . . . One of them might withdraw with
his savings and set himself up as the proprietor of a boss shop with-
out the slightest twinge of conscience or the remotest chance of being
charged with the sin of apostasy. . . . Any cooper is ready to bid
farewell to his berth . . . when something better clearly presents
itself. They believe heartily in co-operation, because the system
benefits and elevates workingmen ; but they are not on bad terms with
society as they find it about them, and are entirely willing to step out
of the ranks of handicraftsmen and wage-workers whenever oppor-
tunity permits. They recognise no impassable gulf severing indus-
trial and social classes. Their advancement to the dignity of capi-
talists, employers or brain-workers, is not a repudiation of the co-
operative system, but the highest possible compliment they could pay
11 Warner, " Three Phases of Co-opera- the existence of a similar enthusiasm for
tion in the West," in Johns Hopkins Uni- co-operation in those sections.
vertity Studies, 1888, VI, 395. Randall, 12 Shinn, " Co-operation on the Pacific
•• Co-operation in Maryland and the Coast," in Johns Hopkins University
South," ibid., 494, and Bemis, " Co-opera- Studies, 1888, VI, 447.
tion in the Middle States," ibid., 86, show 13 Randall, "Co-operation in Maryland
and the South." ibid., 489.
CO-OPERATION 435
it. . . . So far as I know, the movement has never had a social phil-
osopher or a hobby-riding ' reformer ' connected with it, and nobody
who ever thought of idealising it into a cult." ^*
This characterisation applied fully to the few co-operative
enterprises, which, like that of the coopers in Minneapolis, were
already past the stage of the bare struggle for existence. The
general movement, however, was idealistic, and aimed at broad
social reform. Still, it is safe to say that the coopers had
merely carried to the logical end what was the general tendency
in all efforts toward productive co-operation.
With the spontaneous development of the co-operative move-
ment in 1884, the role of the central authority of the Order
changed correspondingly. The leading member of the Gen-
eral Co-operative Board was now John Samuel, whose ardour
for decentralised productive co-operation had not been cooled
by his experience with the movement during the sixties and
seventies. The duty of the General Co-operative Board was
to educate the members of the Order in the principles of co-
operation, to aid by information and otherwise prospective or
actual participators in co-operation ; in brief, to co-ordinate the
co-operative movement within the Order, as the central co-opera-
tive board of England was doing. Hence the board issued
forms of constitution and laws which, with a few modifications,
could be adopted by any locality. The board also published
articles on the dangers and pitfalls in co-operative ventures,
such as granting credit, poor management, etc., as well as nu-
merous articles on specific kinds of co-operation.
In its effort to co-ordinate co-operation, the label of the
Knights of Labor was granted for the use of co-operative
goods, ^^ and an agitation was steadily conducted to induce pur-
chasers to give a preference to co-operative products. ^^
Perhaps the most delicate function of the Order was the
granting of financial aid to local co-operative enterprises. This
matter was left to the General Executive Board with the ap-
proval of the General Co-operative Board. 'No definite fund
was established for this purpose, but it was within the power
lilbid., 239.
15 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1886, p. 290.
16 Ibid., 1887, pp. 1685, 1825.
436 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
of the General Exectitive Board to decide how much, and to
whom, aid should be granted. Naturally, with co-operative
projects planned throughout the country in time of depression,
the appeals for help were overwhelmingly heavy. Although
the requests were numerous, the Order granted aid in but a
few instances, and only in cases where locked-out and victim-
ised members were involved. How insistent these demands
became is clearly seen from the following characteristic notice
issued by the secretary of the General Co-operative Board:
" The Co-operative Board would require the resources of some of
our millionaires to be sufficient for the demands upon them ; and the
calls for a visit to see and examine this and that, from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, would take the time of several Secretaries. Kind
friends and dear brethren, this thing of expecting help in starting a
carp pond, a dairy, or a machine shop, is a great mistake. The Co-
operative Fund would soon become a nuisance as well as a nonentity.
Halt! Give us a rest, in the name of Brotherhood and humane
charity. If you have printed plans of co-operative stores or shops,
or other enterprises, send me a copy ; if you have ideas of value, please
forward them ; or if you think the present co-operative law, as found
in the Constitution, can be amended, send us your propositions.
But do not look for aid such a long way from home. If your plans
are feasible, the best place to look for help must be near home. Self-
help is the surest as well as the best help. ... I must respect-
fully give notice that I am utterly unable to grant help in
any way to parties wishing loans from the Co-operative Fund." ^^
The co-operative movement reached such large proportions
in 1886 and the demand for aid was so insistent that, in the
session of 1886, $10,000 quarterly was set aside for the use
of the General Co-operative Board. ^® This fund was never
actually created or used, as the demands upon the Order for
other purposes were too large. Another attempt to establish
a fund was made in 1887, but by this time the general funds
of the Order were so depleted that the proposition was re-
jected. ^^
The Order also provided rules for the governing of co-opera-
tive enterprises, such as the safekeeping of funds, giving prefer-
ence to members for employment, and division of profits. ^^
17 Philadelphia Journal of United La- 16 Ibid., 1887, pp. 1750, 1753.
bar, Apr. 25, 1886. 20 Constitution of the General Assem-
18 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1886, bly, 1886, Art. VIII, p. 16.
p. 292.
CO-OPERATION 437
As a scheme of industrial regeneration, co-operation, as we
know, never materialised. As a means of enabling some en-
terprising and ambitious wage-earners to become independent
or self-employed, co-operation proved fairly successful. The
form which the success took, however, proved detrimental to
the very purpose for which co-operation was intended. It seems
that the successful co-operative establishments sooner or later
became joint stock companies. ^^
The causes which brought on the failure of most of the co-
operative enterprises were many. Hasty action, the selection
of inefficient managers, internal dissensions, lack of capital, in-
judicious borrowing of money at high rates of interest upon
the mortgage of the plant, and finally discriminations instigated
by competitors. Railroads were heavy offenders, by delaying
side tracks, on some pretence or other, refusing to furnish
cars, or refusing to haul them.^^ The Union Mining Company
of Cannelburg, Indiana, owned and operated by the Order, as
its sole experiment of the centralised kind, met this fate. After
expending $20,000 in equipping the mines, purchasing land,
laying tracks, cutting and sawing timber on the land, and min-
ing $1,000 worth of coal, they were compelled to lie idle for
nine months before the railroad company saw fit to connect
their switch with the main track. When they were ready to
ship their product, it was learned that their coal could be util-
ised for the manufacture of gas only, and that contracts for
supply of such coal were let in July, nine months from the time
of connecting the switch with the main track. In addition, the
company was informed that it must supply itself with a switch-
engine to do the switching of the cars from its mine to the main
track, at an additional cost of $4,000. When this was accom-
plished they had to enter " the market in competition with a
bitter opponent who has been fighting [them] since the opening
of the mine." Having exhausted their funds and not seeing
their way clear to secure additional funds for the purchase of
a locomotive and to tide over the nine months before any con-
tracts for coal could be entered into, they sold out.^^
21 The famous co-operative coopers' 22 Journal of United Labor, Nov. 12,
shops in Minneapolis finally ended in this 1887.
manner. 2.3 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1885,
p. 92.
438 HISTOEY OP LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Another form of opposition to which manufacturers resorted
was that of pressure upon machinery manufacturers and whole-
salers of raw material to prevent sales to the co-operators.^*
Thus three or four years after it had first hegun, the co-
operative movement had passed the full cycle of life, and both
the centralised and decentralised forms had succumbed. The
fact that it was the Knights of Labor that fathered the move-
ment, while the trade unions practically kept aloof from it,
shows both the weaker bargaining power of their membership
and the middle-class psychology of their leaders.
The failure was definite and final. Not since this time has
the American labour movement ventured upon co-operation.
The year 1888 marks the closing of the age of middle-class
" panaceas,'^ and consequently the beginning of the wage-con-
scious period. The failure was not due to external causes
only. Indeed, it was foredoomed, thanks to the form which
it assumed. In England, where the great co-operative move-
ment, started by the Kochdale pioneers, was of the distributive
kind, it remained independent of the wage question or trade
unionism. There the co-operative and the trade union organi-
sations grew side by side and, although they drew recruits from
the same constituency, never came seriously into collision. In
the United States, however, the co-operative attempts were not
distributive but, for the most part, productive. When the co-
operators lowered the price of their product in order to build
up a market, the wages of the workers who continued to work
for private employers were immediately affected for the worse.
Hence the Order, when it endeavoured to practise both co-op-
eration and trade unionism, was driving its teams in opposite
directions. The difficulties were further enhanced by the fact
that its financial means were limited so that any diversion of
funds for cooperative ends weakened its trade union action,
and vice versa. After 1888 the Order never obtained another
opportunity to choose between the two, but the trade unions
were in a position to benefit by the lesson and, as a result, es-
chewed co-operation.
24 Such was the case pf the Co-operative South," in Johns Hopkins University
Furniture Company of Baltimore. Ran- Studies, 498.
dall, " Co-operation in Maryland and the
CHAPTER XII
THE POLITICAL UPHEAVAL, 1886-1887
The Greenback Labor party, 440. The Butler campaign, 440. New po-
litical outlook, 441. New York Central Labor Union, 441. Its radical
declaration of principles, 442. Early activities, 442. The conspiracy law,
443. Campaign of 1882, 444. The Theiss boycott case, 444. Decision to
go into politics, 445. Henry George's life and philosophy, 446. Compari-
son with John Swinton, 447. California experiences, 447. The " new
agrarianism," 448. Availability as a candidate, 448. The platform, 449.
Attitude of the socialists, 449. Democratic nomination, 450. The George-
Hewitt campaign, 450. The Leader, 451. The general press, 451. Hewitt's
view of the struggle, 452. George's view of the struggle, 452. Reverend
Dr. McGlynn, 453. Attitude of the Catholic Church, 453. Powderly's at-
titude, 453 The vote, 453. Effect on the old parties, 454. Beginning of
friction with the socialists, 454. The choice of a name for the party, 455.
" Land and labor " clubs, 455, The county convention and the party con-
stitution, 455. Call for a state convention, 456. Opposition of the social-
ists, 456. Their capture of the Leader, 456. The Standard and the attack
upon the Catholic hierarchy, 456. The Anti-poverty Society, 456. George's
attitude towards the purely labour demands, 457. McMackin's ruling on
the eligibility of socialists to membership, 457. Struggle in the assembly
districts, 458. Attitude of the trade unions, 458. Gompers' attitude, 458.
Unseating of the socialist delegates at the state convention, 459. The new
platform, 460. Revolt of the socialists, 460. Progressive Labor party, 460.
Swinton's nomination, 461. The vote, 461. Causes of the failure of the
movement, 461. Political movement outside of New York, 461. Labour
tickets, 462. Labour platforms, 462. Success in the elections, 462. At-
titude of the Federation, 463. Powderly's, attitude, 464. Efforts for na-
tional organisations, 464. The national convention in Cincinnati, 465.
National Union Labor party, 465. Labour's attitude towards the new party,
465. Spring elections of 1887, 466. Autumn election of 1887, 466.
Spring elections of 1888, 467. The Chicago Socialists, 467. The Union
Labor party presidential nomination, 468. The United Labor party, 468.
Predominance of the farmers in the Union Labor party, 468. Apostasy of
many labour leaders, 468. Powderly's secret circular, 469. The vote, 469.
The order of the Videttes, 469.
The indifference of the wage-earners to independent politics,
displayed by the greenback vote of 1880,^ continued until 1886.
In 1882 an attempt was made in Pennsylvania, where labour
was still taking a part in the management of the Greenback
1 See above, II, 251.
439
440 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Labour party, to resuscitate the movement by nominating
Thomas J. Armstrong, the editor of the National Labour
Tribune, for governor on the greenback ticket. But the result
was most disappointing. In so far as the greenback movement
was still in existence, it was a movement of farmers, not of
wage-earners. Gradually the greenback issues were losing their
last grip and were being supplanted by the issue of anti-monop-
oly. By the middle of 1883 the anti-monopoly movement had
become general enough to warrant the calling of a national
conference. Joseph E. Buchanan enthusiastically supported the
idea, although the greenbackers were generally opposed. He
attended such a conference on July 4, 1883, as a representative
of the Anti-Monopoly or People's party of Colorado and found
that the delegates " were nearly all farmers." ^ As a result
of the conference, a nominating convention met at Chicago on
May 19, 1884, and nominated Benjamin F. Butler for presi-
dent. The remnants of the Greenback party met a fortnight
later and, after much discussion, indorsed him.
The campaign was conducted with still less energy than that
of 1880. Butler, who was then governor of Massachusetts,
having been elected in 1882 by a combination of Democrats
and greenbackers, was looking for the Democratic nomina-
tion. He remained undecided for a time as to whether he
should openly accept the nomination of the greenbackers, and
did so only after the Democrats had nominated Cleveland.
Moreover, his choice of campaign managers was displeasing to
the rank and file of the party, and it served to enhance the
doubt which had been excited by his conduct in accepting the
nomination, of the genuineness of his canvass.
The vote polled was almost negligible — 135,000, or about
1.33 per cent of the total, as against 350,000 ^ polled in 1880,
and some 15,000 less than that polled by the prohibition candi-
date. A very large percentage of the Butler vote was drawn
from the wage-workers, owing to his popularity among the la-
bouring people, and as a result of the distinct bid for the labour
vote made in the platform. Obviously, however, only a por-
2 Chicago Labor Enquirer, July 11, where the rest of the electoral ticket was
1883. nominated jointly by the Democratic and
3 Not including the 42,000 polled by Greenback parties,
the Butler electors at large in Michigan,
POLITICS 441
tion of the members of labour organisations voted for him.
Typographical Union 6 of ~New York conducted an extensive
campaign in labour circles on behalf of Cleveland, since Blaine
was supported by the boycotted 'New York Tribune. Foran,
ex-president of the coopers, and Farquhar, ex-president of the
typographical imion, were elected to Congress as Democrats, in
Cleveland and Buffalo, respectively. There was also the usual
small number of labour-union members elected to state legisla-
tures on old party tickets.
The insignificant vote polled by Butler completed the process
of dissolving the loose organisations of diverse elements known
variously as the " I^ational," the '^ Anti-Monopoly," and the
" People's party " — a process which had been going on with
but little interruption since 1878. However, the sudden growth
of the vote in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the movement had
virtually disappeared in 1880, may be taken as a distant herald
of another political upheaval.
This came on the heels of the economic disturbance of 1886.
Many factors contributed toward it. These were the disas-
trous strikes of the year, such as the Southwest strike, the eight-
hour strike, and the Chicago building workmen's strike; the
wholesale conviction of union members on criminal charges
of boycotts, conspiracy, intimidation, and rioting; the turning
of public opinion against labour as a result of the Haymarket
bomb, and the identification in the minds of many people of
the Knights of Labor and the trade unionists with the anar-
chists ; the enactment in this year of much legislation designed
to restrict the freedom of action of labour organisations; and
finally, the presence of a large non-wage-earning element among
the Knights of Labor, an element which was able to assert
itself only through political action. The political movement
reached its culminating point in ^ew York City, in the autumn
of 1886. There it was directed by the Central Labor Union,
which was often termed the Parliament of Organised Labour.*
This organisation had grown out of a mass meeting called
early in 1882 by Kobert Blissert, a journeyman tailor and
4 For the following account of the politi- University of Wisconsin, Bulletin, Eco-
cal movement in New York, I am indebted nomic and Political Science Series, Vol.
to the manuscript of P. A. Speek, "The VIII, No. 3.
Single Tax and the Labor Movement,"
442 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
refugee from Ireland, "for the purpose of sending greetings
to the workers of Ireland in their struggle against English land-
lordism." ^ The first meeting on February 11, 1882, was at-
tended by delegates from fourteen trade unions, with a majority
of the German element, and was addressed by Philip Van Pat-
ten, the national secretary of the Socialist Labour party. The
predominance of the socialist element is clearly shown in the
declaration of principles. It asserted that "there can be no
harmony between capital and labour under the present indus-
trial system, for the simple reason that capital, in its modem
character, consists very largely of rent, interest and profits
wrongfully extorted from the producer " ; and ended by pointing
out " as the sacred duty of every honorable laboring man to
sever his affiliations with all political parties of the capitalists,
and to devote his energy and attention to the organisation of
his Trade and Labor Union, and the concentration of all
Unions into one solid body for the purpose of assisting each
other in all struggles — political or industrial — to resist every
attempt of the ruling classes directed against our liberties, and
to extend our fraternal hand to the wage earners of our land and
to all nations of the globe that struggle for the same indepen-
dence." ^
The radical tenor of this declaration and especially its em-
phasis upon the international character of the labour movement
were directly due to the influence of the two leading elements
in the organisation, the German socialists and the political
refugees from Ireland. The declaration remained unaltered
until the end of the eighties.
The Central Labor Union immediately took its place at the
head of the city central organisations of the country. During
the celebrated freight-handlers' strike in 'New York in July,
1882, it raised a fund of $60,000 for the strikers. It put into
operation one of the first boycotts in the eighties, namely, that
against an anti-union firm of gold beaters in Philadelphia, in
April, 1882. Besides popularising the boycott, the Central
Labor Union, upon the motion of P. J. McGuire, for the first
time called a labour holiday on the first Monday in September,
1882. This was afterwards taken up by the Knights and the
5/ofcn Swinton's Paper. Feb. 28, 1886. 6 Central Lp,bor Union, Conetitution.
CENTEAL LABOR UNION 443
Federation of Labor and made legally ^' Labour Day " in sev-
eral States. In 1882, the Central Labor Union also made its
debut in politics. This was provoked by the incorporation into
the penal code of the State of seven stringent anti-conspiracy
statutes.
In 1870 N'ew York had passed a law which provided that
strikes for higher wages or shorter hours should not be con-
sidered conspiracies. However, in 1881-1882, when the penal
code was revised, it was found that the conspiracy law was wid-
ened both directly and indirectly. It provided that an agree-
ment to commit a crime was a misdemeanor and also a criminal
conspiracy. The list of actions which constituted a crime was
widened considerably. It specifically enumerated the forms of
picketing that should constitute intimidation. It declared a
misdemeanor the breach of ^^ contract of service or hiring . . .
either alone or in combination with others," in cases when it
might result in danger to life or in bodily injury or would " ex-
pose valuable property to destruction or serious injury.'^ Fur-
thermore, there was a general provision enacted to the effect that
a person who " commits any act which seriously injures the per-
son or property of another, or which seriously disturbs or
endangers the public peace or health, or which openly outrages
public decency, for which no other punishment is expressly
prescribed by this Code, is guilty of a misdemeanor.'' ^ Each
of the enumerated misdemeanors could be punished by one
year's imprisonment and $500 fine. Finally, in regard to ex-
tortion, which was defined as the " obtaining of property from
another without his consent, induced by wrongful use of force
or fear, or under colour of official right," a maximum penalty
of five years was given. It was under this last clause that the
famous boycott cases of 1886 were decided. Swinton asserted
at the time that the clause had been smuggled into the penal
code by the committee appointed to codify existing laws, and
that the legislature when it adopted the code, acted in total
ignorance of it.®
The leaders of labour organisations felt the greatest appre-
hension on account of the clause which dealt with picketing.
7 New York Bureau of Labor, Report, 1887, p. 669.
8 John Swinton' 8 Paper, July 11, 1886.
444 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Thej feared tliat peaceful boycotting would be construed as an
act injurious to trade or commerce, and that refusal to work
with a strike-breaker would be regarded as intimidation.®
Candidates were nominated in 1882 in 4 congressional dis-
tricts (Louis F. Post ^^ in the fourth), in 11 aldermanic dis-
tricts, and in 11 assembly districts. The total vote cast was only
about 10,000. Charges of bribery were freely made and were
believed, so that the enthusiasm for independent political action
waned.
After 1882 the Central Labor Union became a purely eco-
nomic organisation. It assumed undisputed leadership of the
strike and boycott movements of the city. It maintained
friendly relations with the Knights of Labor, and even counted
among its affiliated organisations many of the assemblies of the
Knights. With the beginning of the upward trend in the la-
bour movement early in 1885 it grew in proportion. The num-
ber of affiliated organisations had so increased that in order to
expedite business, related trades were grouped into sections
and, in July, 1886, there were 10 sections with a total of 207
unions as follows: building trades with 39 unions; iron and
metal, 18; food products, 16; clothing, 16; furniture, 14;
printing, 13 ; tobacco, 9 ; textile, 8 ; clerks, 6 ; and miscellaneous,
68.^^ The total membership was estimated by an unfriendly
writer at 40,000,^2 and was probably 50,000.
While the Central Labor Union took no active part in the
eight-hour movement, the widest attention was attracted by its
activity on behalf of the boycott, since for the first time in the
eighties it brought organised labour prominently in conflict with
the courts. In March, 1886, the Carl Sahm Club of musicians
(a local assembly of the Knights of Labor under the jurisdic-
tion of District Assembly 49) declared a boycott, after an un-
successful strike, against George Theiss, a proprietor of a music
and beer garden. The waiters' and bar-tenders' unions, which
also had grievances against Theiss, joined in, and, upon their
appeal, the Central Labor Union declared a general boycott
9 Expressed by P. J, McGuire at a meet- Public (the single tax weekly in Chicago),
ing of the Central Labor Union in Oc- and since 1913 assistant secretary of
tober, 1882, New York Workman, Oct, labor at Washington.
16, 1882. 11 New York Sun, July 19, 1886.
10 A prominent disciple of Henry 12 Ibid., Sept. 19, 1886.
George, for many years editor of the
BOYCOTT CASES 445
against Theiss' place. The boycott was conducted witli great
energy. Pickets were stationed near the establishment to warn
customers away. Several arrests were made, but resulted in
no convictions. Finally, George Ehret, a brewer, and a certain
baker from whom Theiss bought beer and bread, fearing that
the sales of their goods would fall off owing to the boycott, ar-
ranged for a meeting between Theiss and a committee repre-
senting the boycotters and the Central Labor Union. The
meeting resulted in a written settlement, the last clause of which
required Theiss to pay $1,000 to cover the expenses of the boy-
cott, and the money was afterwards paid.^^
Soon after this, however, Theiss brought suit against the
members of the union committees charging them with intimi-
dation and extortion. The judge, George C. Barrett, in his
charge to the jury, conceded that striking, picketing, and boy-
cotting as such were not prohibited by law, if not accompanied
by force, threats, or intimidation. But in the case under con-
sideration the action of the pickets in advising passers-by not
to patronise the establishment, and in distributing boycott cir-
culars, constituted intimidation. Also, since the $1,000 was
obtained by fear induced by a threat to continue the unlawful
injury to Theiss' property inflicted by the " boycott," the case
was one of extortion covered by the penal code. It made no
difference whether the money was appropriated by the defend-
ants for personal use or whether it was turned over to their
organisations. The jury, which reflected the current public
opinion against boycotts, found all of the 5 defendants guilty
of extortion, and Judge Barrett sentenced them to prison for
terms ranging from 1 year and 6 months to 3 years and 8
months.^*
The Theiss case, coming as it did at a time of general rest-
lessness of labour, and closely after the defeat of the eight-hour
movement, greatly hastened the growth of the sentiment for an
independent labour party. During 1885 independent politics
had been made a subject of lively discussion at the meetings of
13 John Swinton's Paper, July 11, Report, 1886, p. 752. The sentences were
1886. all commuted Oct, 9, 1886, by Governor
14 People V. Wilzig, 4 N. Y. Crim. 403 David B. Hill, to imprisonment for the
(1886) ; People v. Kostka, 4 N. Y. Crim. term of 100 days, from July 3, 1886, to
429 (1886) ; New York Bureau of Labor, Oct. 11, 1886.
446 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
the Central Labor Union and also of the affiliated organisa-
tions, but the sides were equally matched. On the evening of
the last day of the trial, the delegates of the Socialist Labor
party, the cigar makers', bar-tenders', and waiters' unions, and
of the Carl Sahm Club met and called a mass meeting to pro-
test against the conviction of the boycotters. A few days later
the Central Labor Union endorsed the call.
The mass meeting was held at Coopers' Union on July 7.
The speakers, among them John Swinton and S. E. Schevitsch,
the editor of the socialist New Yorker Volhszeitung, all urged
political action. On July 11, the Central Labor Union met.
A resolution was introduced and seconded by socialists, that a
committee be appointed to devise ways and means for forming
an independent labour party. It was carried, and at the next
meeting the committee presented a plan to extend an invitation
to all labour and labour reform organisations, labour unions,
Knights of Labor, greenbackers, anti-monopolists, socialists,
and land reformers to send delegates to a labour conference on
August 5, 1886, at Clarendon Hall.
The conference was composed of 402 delegates from 165 or-
ganisations with an aggregate membership of 50,000.^^ The
Socialist Labor party as well as others was represented as a
ho7ui fide labour organisation. Again the socialists took the
lead on the side of independent politics and met with little op-
position save from the delegates of Typographical Union 6.
The resolution was carried by a vote of 362 to 40. A com-
mittee on permanent organisation resulted, with John Mc-
Mackin, of the painters, for chairman, and James P. Archibald,
of the paper hangers, for secretary. At the next conference it
was decided to form an independent labour party of New York
and vicinity, and a platform was presented, consisting almost
entirely of purely labour demands. For a technical reason,
the platform was not passed upon at this meeting. Meantime
the committee was in search of a candidate for mayor in the
election of the next autumn, and the choice fell on Henry George.
Henry George, although he had started his career as a printer,
was not a product of the labour movement. His influence was
quite in contrast with that of another printer who also at that
15 Post and Leubuscher, The Oeorge-Sewitt Campaign, 6.
HENRY GEORGE 447
time belonged to the "intellectuals" — John Swinton. Swin-
ton ^® saw around him the complexity of the social and eco-
nomic life in the East, with its diversity of interests and strug-
gles and its no less diversity of social evils. He, therefore,
ruled out as obviously inadequate any theory of economic de-
velopment based upon any one fundamental idea, and naturally
came to embrace doctrines of empiricism. George, on the con-
trary, did not approach the labour movement with the empirical
spirit of Swinton. He came with a ready-made theory and the
labour movement appealed to him merely as a vehicle for the
spread of his single-tax teaching. His dogmatism was largely
the result of environment. Born in Philadelphia in 1839, he
went to San Francisco after he had learned the printer's trade.
He therefore began his philosophical experience on what was
then the economic frontier, where as yet there was little manu-
facturing, but mainly mining and agricultural pursuits having
a direct dependence upon natural resources. Wages were high,
owing to the abundance of these resources, offering rich alter-
native opportunities to the wage-earner. When the first trans-
continental railroad was completed in 1869 and a rapid growth
of population began, the free land was quickly pre-empted by
speculators, the price of land soared up, and wages simultane-
ously fell. George drew the conclusion that wages had de-
clined because the land owner was now exacting a high rent
for the use of the land. He also ascribed to high rent the simi-
lar effect on profits, whose similarity to wages he could see in
a community where the independent miners commonly spoke
of washing their " wages " out of the soil. Euthermore,
George keenly observed the severe industrial depression which
struck California in 1877 and served to confirm the idea al-
ready ripened in his mind that the monopolisation of the land
by withholding it from use both reduced " wages," and de-
creased the opportunities for employment. •'^'^ Thus, the observa-
tion of conditions in California led George to explain the ex-
ploitation of labour and the lack of employment by a single
cause, the monopolisation of land.
Although primarily an outgrowth of the economic evolution
16 See above, II, 220, note.
17 His book on Progress and Poverty was first published in 1880,
448 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
of California the single-tax philosophy was given an enthusias-
tic acceptance among many of the '^ intellectuals " in the in-
dustrial East. The single-tax programme seemed admirably
to meet the urban rent problem. It also appealed to those who,
while keenly aware of the existing evils in industrial society,
preferred a solution on individualistic lines. Indeed, the
single-tax philosophy had enjoyed in the cities of the East
much the same persuasive power that had been enjoyed by the
agrarian philosophy of the homestead movement which orig-
inated there during the forties. ^^ Henry George was the spir-
itual heir of George Henry Evans, the agrarian thinker and
leader during the forties. Both advocated " agrarianism," yet
a comparison between them will yield no less a contrast than
would a comparison of the agricultural and largely unoccupied
United States of Clay and Calhoun with the industrialised and
settled country of Blaine and Cleveland. " Vote yourself a
farm " was a practical kind of agrarianism when the existence
of an apparently inexhaustible public domain logically suggested
an " extensive " solution of the labour problem, a mere open-
ing up of the land to the energetic wage-earner seeking, as his
own employer, for an opportunity to apply his labour force to
the resources of nature. At a time, however, when the railway
had nearly abolished the available supply of free land, and
when industry had concentrated huge populations in the cities,
the '' agrarian " solution of the labour question had to be of
the " intensive '' order, namely, the opening up of opportunities
to the labourer by means of an indirect pressure upon the owner
of the natural resources through the power of taxation.
George was a most suitable candidate for the Labor party.
A man with an international reputation, exceedingly popular
in labour circles, especially among the Irish, owing to his work
in Ireland, he was at the same time unaffiliated with any group
or organisation in the labour movement. George was willing
to accept the nomination, but stipulated that at least 30,000
voters should pledge themselves, over their signatures, to vote
for him. The conference enthusiastically accepted his condi-
tion, and the work of gathering the signatures was begun at
once. The platform presented first was quietly dropped, al-
18 See above, I, 522, et aeq.
THE SOCIALISTS 449
though it met with general approval, and George was asked
to write his own platform. Such being the case, the new plat-
form naturally made the single tax the issue. The labour
demands were compressed into one plank. They were the re-
form of court procedure so that " the practice of drawing
grand jurors from one class should cease, and the requirements
of a property qualification for trial jurors should be abol-
ished '' ; the stopping of the " officious intermeddling of the
police with peaceful assemblages " ; the enforcement of the
laws for safety and the sanitary inspection of buildings; the
abolition of contract labour on public work, and equal pay for
equal work without distinction of sex on such work. Another
plank dealt with over-crowding in tenements, but the remedy
advanced was not regulation of buildings but the single-tax idea
of abolishing all taxes on buildings and substituting heavy
taxation of land values irrespective of improvements. The re-
maining four planks advanced the single tax, demanded the
government ownership of railways and telegraphs, and dealt
with the existing political corruption. -^^
From the standpoint of labour, therefore, the platform was
not satisfactory, for the single tax was hardly understood by
the workingmen. But so great was the popularity of the man
and so bright the chances for success that this was overlooked.
Even the socialists, from whom the harshest criticism might
have been expected, raised no protest.
The socialist movement had recovered from the blow dealt
it by anarchism about 1884.^^ As in previous years, it was
divided into two factions, a " trade union " faction and a " po-
litical " one. The former, with the New Yorker Volhszeitung
as its organ, favoured the postponement of political action and
the continuation of active work in and on behalf of the trade
unions ; the political faction, represented by the I^ational Exec-
utive Committee of the party and its newly established organ,
Der Sozialist, under the leadership of V. L. Kosenberg, pre-
ferred independent political action to participation in the trade
union movement. The trade union faction was able, with the
help of the German unions, to play an important part in the
Central Labor Union, where it carried on a steady agitation
19 The Oeorpe-Hewitt Campaign, 14. 20 See above, II, 300.
450 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
in favour of a labour party by the trade unions. So tbat when
finally in 1886 such a party was launched, the trade union fac-
tion felt inclined to overlook the deficiencies in the platform
from the socialist standpoint and even to welcome the issue of
the single tax as " partial socialism." As a matter of fact,
the trade union faction expected from the first that the move-
ment would eventually turn into a socialistic channel. The
opposite faction, the political one, although it still held that
political action should be carried on by the Socialist Labor
party and not by the trade unions, felt so strongly inspired by
the great possibilities suddenly opening up, that, notwithstand-
ing its control over the National Executive Committee, it
allowed the trade union faction full sway and even refrained
from criticism.
The nominating convention met September 23, with 409
delegates from 175 organisations. The George platform was
adopted and George was nominated for mayor by a vote of 360
to 49.
On October 1, a mass meeting was held in Chickering Hall
of several thousand radical middle-class and professional peo-
ple to ratify George's candidacy. Among those who took part
in its debates were Professor Daniel De Leon and Father
McGlynn. A joint mass meeting of the professional and labour
people was held on October 5, 1886, at Cooper Union. In full
view of the audience were placed the rolls containing the 39,000
signatures of voters for Henry George's candidacy for mayor.
George officially accepted the nomination and the memorable
campaign opened.
The Democrats who had heretofore been divided into two
factions, Tammany Hall and the County Democracy, united
upon Abram S. Hewitt, a member of the latter. Hewitt was
a large iron manufacturer of the firm founded by Peter Cooper
and had been congressman from New York. The Kepublicans
nominated Theodore Koosevelt.
The George-Hewitt campaign — for from the very beginning
the campaign became a contest between these two only —
marks one of the most spectacular and romantic epochs in the
history of the labour movement in America. It was also the
culminating point in the great labour upheaval. The enthu-
THE CAMPAIGN 451
siasm of the labouring people reached its highest pitch. They
felt that, baffled and defeated as they were in their economic
struggle, they were now nearing victory in the struggle for
the control of government. A considerable campaign fund
was speedily formed by an assessment of 25 cents per capita
upon the members of each union. Besides, money was com-
ing in from collections at campaign meetings and from individ-
ual donations. Sympathisers among professional people also
contributed liberally and organised numerous Henry George
clubs. A daily paper, the Leader, was issued, for which the
Central Labor Union gave $1,000, the carpenters, $1,500,
and other affiliated unions, $100 each. It was edited by Louis
F. Post, counsel of the Central Labor Union, with the col-
laboration of many unpaid writers upon other papers who gave
their spare time to the cause. Its circulation was 30,000 on
the first day and reached 52,000 on the second ; so that it was
almost self-supporting. The New Yorher VolJcszeitung, and,
during a part of the campaign until the opposition of the Cath-
olic Church developed, the Irish World, were the only other
papers which supported George.
Against them was pitted the powerful press of the city of
!N"ew York. When the movement was still in its initial stage,
the press tried to counteract it with ridicule. When, how-
ever, George was named and his election became probable, a
bitter and concerted attack was opened upon him. In this the
Daily Illustrated Graphic, the Evening Post, and Harper's
Weekly, especially excelled. " Eevolutionist,'' and ^' Apostle of
anarchy and destruction " were not the harshest epithets
hurled at him. On the other side, George's campaign was
of the most unusual nature for !N"ew York. Mass meetings were
numerous and large. Most of them were held in the open air,
usually on the street corners. From the system by which one
speaker followed another, speaking at several meeting places
in a night, the labour campaign got its nickname of the " tail-
board campaign." The common people, women and men,
gathered in hundreds and often thousands around a truck from
which the shifting speakers addressed the crowd. The speakers
were volunteers, including representatives of the liberal pro-
fessions, lawyers, physicians, teachers, ministers, and labour
452 HISTOKY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
leaders. At such mass meetings George did most of his cam-
paigning, making several speeches a night, once as many as
eleven. ^^ The single tax and the prevailing political corrup-
tion were favourite topics.
Of the two opponents of George, Hewitt had by far a clearer
conception of the significance of the campaign than Koosevelt.
In his speech of acceptance, Hewitt squarely stated the issue in
the following words:
"A new issue has . . . been suddenly sprung upon this com-
munity. An attempt is being made to organise one class of our citi-
zens against all other classes, aad to place the Government of the city
in the hands of men willing to represent the special interests of this
class [labour], to the exclusion of the just rights of the other classes.
. . . Between capitalists, or those who control capital, and laborers,
there may be a conflict of interests, which, like all other disputes,
must be adjusted by mutual concessions, or by the operation of the
law. . . . With more experience and better education, the evils of
strikes, lockouts, and boycotts will pass away. Conciliation and arbi-
tration will take place of denunciation and hostility." ^^
George denied the class nature of the movement, and replied
in his first public letter to Hewitt :
" You have heard so much of the working-class that you evidently
forget that the * working-class ' is in reality not a class, but the mass,
and that any political movement in which they engage is not that of
one class against other classes, but, as one English statesman has
happily phrased it, a movement of the ' masses against the classes.'
... I do not stand as the candidate of the hand-workers alone.
Among the men who have given me the most democratic nomination
given to an American citizen in our time are not wholly hand-
workers, but working-men of all kinds — editors, reporters, teachers,
clergymen, artists, authors, physicians, store-keepers, merchants —
in short, representatives of all classes of men who earn their living
by the exertion of their hand and head." ^*
An exchange of public letters between Hewitt and George
followed. Hewitt criticised the single tax as " robbery " but
avoided all reference to the existing political corruption. He
also rejected George's offer of a public debate. Hewitt's letters
and speeches accomplished their purpose; he succeeded in
frightening the business men.
2-i The Oeorge-Eewitt Campaign, 106. 22 Jbid., 31-37. 2Z Ibid., 46-50.
THE CAMPAIGN 453
Among the non-labour supporters of George, the greatest at-
tention was attracted by Father McGlynn, a Catholic priest.
Owing to his great popularity among Catholics, his public advo-
cacy of the single tax and of George's candidacy he was con-
sidered by the Democrats as a source of great danger. With
the view of counteracting it, the chairman of Tammany Hall's
committee on resolutions addressed a letter to Thomas S. Pres-
ton, vicar-general of the Catholic Church, asking if it were true
that the Catholic clergymen were in favour of Henry George.
The reply brought the anticipated assurance that the great
majority of the Catholic clergy strongly condemned and
would " deeply regret the election of Mr. George to any posi-
tion of influence." The letter was given the widest circulation.
It was distributed in front of Catholic churches and among
Catholic worshippers on their return from service. The press
also gave it wide publicity.
Shortly before election day, the Democratic politicians
spread the rumor that Powderly was opposed to George's candi-
dacy. At the beginning of the campaign Powderly had de-
cided to take no part, but, seeing that his attitude was misin-
terpreted into an indication of opposition to George, he ordered
a mass meeting called in 'New York on the eve of the election
and came out in his speech strongly in favour of the independent
candidates.
The vote cast was 90,000 for Hewitt, 68,000 for George, and
60,000 for Roosevelt. There is sufficient ground for the belief
that George was counted out of thousands of votes. The na-
ture of the George voters can be sufficiently gathered from an
analysis of the pledges to vote for him.^^ An apparently
trustworthy investigation was made by a representative of the
Sun. He drew the conclusion that the vast majority were not
simply wage-earners, but also naturalised immigrants, mainly
Irish, Germans, and Bohemians, the native element being in
the minority. While the Irish were divided between George
and Hewitt, the majority of the German element had gone over
to Henry George. ^^
The outcome was hailed as a victory by George and his sup-
24 Although no longer solicited after the taneously continued to pour in, reaching a
nomination was made, the pledges spon total of 42,500.
25 New York Si*n, Oct. 22, 1886.
454 HISTOKY OF LABOUK IN THE UNITED STATES
porters, and this view was also taken by the general press. It
assured the continuance of the labour party, and inspired la-
bour with an ambition for success on a larger scale in the fu-
ture. The effect upon the old parties is shown by labour laws
passed at the legislative session of 1887, creating a board of
mediation and arbitration, regulating tenement houses, provid-
ing for the labelling and marketing of convict-made goods, per-
fecting the mechanics' lien, regulating employment of women
and children, regulating the hours of labour on street, surface,
and elevated railroads, and finally amending the notorious penal
code by prohibiting employers, singly or combined, from coerc-
ing employes not to join a labour organisation.^®
Soon after the election, cleavage began in the movement.
The single taxers aspired to place the party entirely upon a
single tax basis and in doing so came to disregard its labour
character. In fact, since they were aspiring to make the party
one of all producing classes against the landlords and special
privilege, a specific labour character, or what amounted to the
same, a class character, appeared to them as out of harmony
with their philosophy and seemed tactically imprudent. The
extreme popularity of Henry George among the wage-earners
facilitated the task. But active opposition came from the so-
cialists. To these, the nature of the movement as one of wage-
earners had been the only ground for joining, as they believed
that a labour party once formed would by the logic of events
be forced to accept socialism. Consequently, the success of the
designs of the single taxers would have meant their dismal fail-
ure. Although their influence among the labour people was far
less than that of Henry George, their control of the German
imions, their compactness of organisation, and skilful leader-
ship in the person of Schevitsch, made them a force not to be
despised. At first both sides carefully avoided open' rupture.
The leaders close to Henry George called a mass meeting
at Cooper Union on November 6, and, as a result, a temporary
executive committee of three. Father McGlynn, John Mc-
Mackin, and James Redpath, one of the editors of the North
American Review, was appointed to establish the Progressive
Democracy, as the party was named, on a permanent basis.
26 New York Bureau of Labor, Report, 1887, pp. 736-776.
J
THE SINGLE TAX 455
The committee on laws of the Central Labor Union was recog-
nised as the committee on laws of the party. This committee
worked out a provisional constitution. On November 9, the
district organisers of the Central Labor Union met. They
rejected the name Progressive Democracy as well as Land and
Labor party, favoured by none, but named the party the
United Labor party. They also decided to call a county con-
vention on January 6, 1887, in which each assembly district
w^as to be represented by one delegate for each 200 votes cast on
November 2 — altogether 340 delegates. Meanwhile, an or-
ganisation was to be established in each assembly district.
The committee of three continued its work along parallel
lines by organising " Land and Labor Clubs," organisations,
which, although they contained a considerable portion of wage-
earners among their membership, were led solely by intellec-
tuals. On the other hand, the assembly district organisations
were manned and led by wage-earners.
The county convention met on the appointed day. Three
hundred and twenty of the 340 delegates were wage-earners.^^
McMackin was elected chairman. Committees on organisation
and constitution were elected. The former contained the social-
ists, Hugo Vogt, Lucien Sanial, and Daniel De Leon. The
latter, Eichard T. Hinton, H. Emrich, socialists, and James
P. Archibald, the recording secretary of the Central Labor
Union. The Clarendon Hall platform was reaffirmed and also
the name United Labor party. The constitution provided
for election district organisations, assembly district organisa-
tions, a county general committee, and a county executive board.
It included a clause stating that no person " shall be eligible
to membership . . . unless ... he has severed all connections
with all other political parties, organisations and clubs.'' ^^
It was under this clause that the socialists were later ex-
pelled.
County organisations were also formed in Kings (Brook-
lyn), Albany, Erie (Buffalo), and several other counties in the
State. The organisation of land and labour clubs was energet-
ically carried on, and fifteen existed in New York alone.
27 Quoted from the New Yorker Yoltszeitung by the New York Standard, Jan.
22, 1887.
28 New York Leader, Jan. 22, 1887.
456 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
In May, 1887, a joint call was issued by the state conven-
tion committees of the general committee of the counties of
New York and Kings, and by the land and labour committee,
for a state convention in Syracuse on August 17. The call
specified three issues, the taxation of land values, currency re-
form, and the government ownership of railways. ^^
The total omission of labour demands in the call caused the
socialists to break into open criticism of Henry George and the
management of the party. The criticism was at first mild, but
grew more severe during June and July. As early as Janu-
ary, 1887, the socialists had managed to gain the control of
the Leader principally through a shrewd redistribution of the
stock in the Leader publication company among a large num-
ber of their members. They elected Schevitsch editor in
place of Post, so that now when the conflict with the single
taxers had come into the open, they had a daily English organ
to defend their side. Almost in reply to the capture of the
Leader by the socialists, came the announcement of the publi-
cation of a weekly paper, The Standard, edited by George, the
first issue appearing on January 8, 1887. In this issue George
published a vigorous attack upon the hierarchy of the Catholic
Church, provoked by what he considered harsh and unjust
treatment of Father McGlynn. In November, 1886, Arch-
bishop Corrigan had published a letter condemning the single
tax as anti-Christian, and McGlynn had publicly criticised this
letter. In reply, he was ordered to Rome to defend himself.
Upon his refusal on the ground of ill health, he was indefinitely
suspended. The incident helped to keep the movement before
the public eye probably as much as the mayoralty campaign.
As his popularity increased rather than decreased even among
Catholics, McGlynn became a valuable aid to George. In
March, 1887, he formed the Anti-poverty Society, a single-tax
organisation upon a religious basis. The enrolment of mem-
bers was large, the majority of McGlynn's former parishioners,
mostly Irish wage-earners, joining, and also a number of in-
tellectuals of all creeds. . Upon his second refusal to go to
Rome, McGlynn was excommunicated in July, but was given
forty days' grace. Shortly before that time expired, the Anti-
2%Ihid., May 5, 1887.
THE SPLIT 457
poverty Society organised a protest parade, in which about 25,-
000 people, mostly Catholic wage-earners, took part.
The antagonism between George and the socialists grew
from day to day. In June The Standard opened up a discus-
sion concerning the word " Labor " in the party's title.
George was displeased with the term because it had ^^ narrow
associations and would handicap the new movement with the
notion that it [was] merely a class movement." He preferred
either Eree Soil or Free Land. McGlynn shared his view
and offered the '^ Commonwealth " party as a substitute. The
socialists stubbornly defended the term ^' Labor " and, in a
less emphatic way, the trade unionists did the same. The
election of delegates to the state convention bega'a in July.
Here and there appeared instructions to delegates to defend the
term " Labor " in the party's name, to emphasise ^^ Labor
demands " in the platform, and to nominate a ^^ straight labor
ticket." This was attributed by the single taxers to the influ-
ence of the socialists and, in consequence, the breach grew
wider and wider. In the middle of July the rumour spread
that the socialists would be ousted from the United Labor
party on the ground that they at the same time belonged to
another party — the Socialist Labor party. Thereupon the
socialists demanded that the county executive committee issue
a ruling on the eligibility of socialists to membership. The
committee met on July 29, and unanimously decided that the
socialists were eligible to membership.^^ Encouraged by this,
the socialists began to push their views and candidates and
the election of their delegates still more energetically, so that
the general press heralded the news that, repeating the case of
the Leader, the socialists were about to capture the United
Labor party.
George and the single taxers felt that this placed the future
of the movement at stake. On August 5 the county general
committee met. The decision of the executive committee was
made a subject of lively discussion and Chairman McMackin
was asked to rule upon the eligibility of the socialists. Al-
though in his capacity of chairman of the executive committee
he had shortly before voted in favour of the socialists, he now
30 New York Standard, Aug. 13, 1887.
458 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ruled against them, and was sustained by a considerable ma-
jority.3^
War was now openly declared. The twenty-four assembly
district organisations became as many battle fields preparatory
to the battle royal at the state convention at Syracuse. Ten
districts protested against the ousting of the socialists, 7 ap-
proved of McMackin's ruling, 4 expressed no opinion, and in
3 districts rival delegations to Syracuse were elected. The ma-
jority of the districts adopted resolutions urging that " Labor ''
should be retained in the party's name and labour demands in
the platform. The attitude of the trade unions as a whole
was similar. While all were united in the desire for a labour
platform and a purely labour party, the position on the expul-
sion of the socialists was bound to be undecided, as the majority
were influenced by the consideration of harmony in the party
and especially between them and Henry George. Naturally,
the German unions favoured the socialists. Schevitsch stated
at the Syracuse convention that 12 unions with an aggregate
membership of 17,000 condemned the expulsion.^^ But on
the other hand, the entire building trades section of the Cen-
tral Labor Union, with a membership of 40,000 (including
several large German unions which favoured the socialists),
upheld McMackin.^^ The leaders in the Central Labor Union
tried to avoid bringing up the question for discussion and
succeeded in doing so by a tie vote.^^
The attitude of Gompers, whose position was that of a sym-
pathising outsider, was characteristic. He said : " The labour
movement, to succeed politically, must work for present and
tangible results. While keeping in view a lofty ideal, we must
advance towards it through practical steps, taken with intelli-
gent regard for pressing needs. I believe with the most ad-
vanced thinkers as to ultimate ends, including the abolition of
the wage-system. . . ." However, " as many of us understand
it, Mr. George's theory of land taxation does not promise present
reform, nor an ultimate solution." ^^
The attitude of the parties immediately concerned in the
conflict was the following. The New York section of the So-
31 New York Leader, Aug. 5, 1887. 34 New York Standard, Aug. 20, 1887.
B2lbid., Aug. 18, 1887. 35 New York Leader, July 25, 1887.
SS Public (Chicago), Nov. 17, 1911.
THE SPLIT 459
cialist Labor party held a meeting which declared that it was
not a political party in the sense of the clause in the constitu-
tion of the United Labor party, and emphatically denied hav-
ing had any intention whatsoever of capturing that party.
The Leader justly accounted for the expulsion on the ground
that George feared that the voters might believe the statements
of the general press that his party in reality was socialistic.
It proposed a reconciliation on the basis of a return to the
status prior to McMackin's ruling, promising, however, that
the socialist organisation would officially declare that it was
not a political party. George, on his part, remained irrecon-
cilable. " The question between State or German Socialism
and the ideas of that great party of equal rights and indi-
vidual freedom which is now beginning to rise all over the land,
may as well, since the Socialists have raised it, be settled
now." ^® His view was shared by McGlynn and other single
taxers.
The state convention met on the appointed day with 180
delegates. Those from the assembly districts, namely, the
workingmen's delegates, were nearly evenly divided on the ques-
tion of admitting socialists. But the balance was turned in
favour of the irreconcilable single taxers' attitude by the pres-
ence of a considerable number of delegates from land and la-
bour clubs. Louis F. Post was elected temporary chairman by
91 votes against 61 cast for Frank Ferrell, a prominent labour
leader from I^Tew York who was supported by the socialists
and their sympathisers. The committee on credentials brought
in two reports. The majority report, signed by 15 members,
was against the admission of the 6 socialist delegates who still
held their connection with the Socialist Labor party, on the
ground that the decision of the highest executive authority
(Chairman McMackin) was binding. The minority report,
signed by 8 members, favoured the admission of the socialists.
A heated debate ensued. Schevitsch was the principal speaker
for the socialists. He warned the convention not to antag-
onise the workingmen in large industrial cities and condemned
as demagoguerv the endeavour made to represent the issue as
one between American and foreign ideas.^^ A compromise
36/bi<f., Aug. 4, 1887. 37 New York Standard, Aug. 27, 1887.
460 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
resolution was introduced, giving each contesting delegate one-
half vote upon the promise of the Socialist Labor party at
its next convention to declare that it was not a political party.
Against the compromise proposed, George himself took the floor.
He said : " The greatest danger that could befall the party
would not be the separation of its elements . . . but would be a
continuance within its ranks of incongruous elements. . . .
This is the question we must settle. We cannot compromise." ^*
McGlynn spoke in the same vein. The vote was 94 to 59
against the socialists.
The platform adopted took special pains to disavow any
leaning toward socialism. Of course, the single tax was made
the principal issue. The platform included also a demand
for currency reform, municipal ownership of public utilities,
and a list of labour and democracy demands.^ ^ McMackin was
elected permanent chairman of the party. Among the five can-
didates named for office at the coming election, there was no
v/age-earner. George received the nomination for secretary of
state.
Soon after the Syracuse convention, the socialists in New
York called a conference to form a new labour party. It was
attended by delegates from 56 trade unions, 31 political organi-
sations in New York and Brooklyn, and from 15 sections of
the Socialist Labor party from New York and vicinity. The
oonference launched a Progressive Labor party. The plat-
form declared that the emancipation of the working class will
be accomplished only by the workingmen themselves, " through
the establishment, as demanded by the Knights of Labor, of
co-operative institutions, such as will tend to supersede the
wage system by the introducing of a co-operative industrial sys-
tem." ^^ The platform specifically enumerated a long list of
labour demands, and prudently introduced the socialist wedge
in the form of a demand for the public ownership of means
of communication and transportation and other public utilities ;
it also demanded reforms in taxation, namely a tax upon un-
improved land and a progressive income tax. The national con-
vention of the Socialist Labor party, held in Buffalo at the
3» Ibid. 40 New York Leader, Sept. 9, 1887.
39 New York World, Aug. 20, 1887.
UNION LABOUR PARTIES 461
end of September, officially sanctioned participation by social-
ists in labour parties. The Central Labor Union condemned
the Progressive Labor party by a vote of 52 to 44, the votes of
the building trades being wholly against the party.
The party held a state convention the last week of Septem-
ber and nominated John Swinton for secretary of state, and
other candidates. Swinton refused on the ground of ill health,
but later agreed to be a candidate for the state senate in the
seventh senatorial district in INew York City. The campaign
was enlivened by a public debate between George and
Schevitsch at which Gompers, in the capacity of a person neu-
tral to the contest, presided.
The outcome of the election proved disappointing to both
parties. George's vote in New York City fell from 68,000 in
the previous November to 37,000. In the whole State it was
72,000. The Progressive Labor party polled only 5,000 in
the State, and 2,900 were cast for Swinton for state senator
as against 2,300 cast for the United Labor party candidate,
out of a total of 24,000. There seem to be several causes for
this outcome. The dissensions in the movement apparently
robbed it of the prospect to win. With this a portion of the
enthusiasm was gone. Moreover, as mentioned before, the
legislative session of 1887 had yielded a most abundant crop
of labour laws. Another potent influence was the improved
industrial conditions, which, having started on the up-grade in
the early part of 1886, reached a normal state in the middle
of 1887. And last, but not least, the labour upheaval had
spent its force by the middle of 1887. After the election, the
United Labor party rapidly dwindled to a small group of land
reformers. George abandoned it in 1888 and supported Cleve-
land for president. McGlynn remained until 1889 when the
party finally disappeared^
The political movement outside of New York *^ passed
through a similar cycle. In the autumn election of 1886, in-
dependent labour candidates were run in many places under
various party names. In Boston the workingmen's candidates
were upon the Central Labor Union ticket. The labour party
41 In the following account the author E. E. Witte, Union Labor Parties, 1884-
drew from an unpublished monograph by 1889.
462 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
was known in Baltimore as the Industrial party, in Wisconsin
as the People's party, and in Chicago as the Union Labor
party. In other localities the workingmen's candidates ran
simply upon labour or " Knight of Labor " tickets. In many
places they were directly nominated by the local assemblies of
the Knights. In others they owed their nomination to a con-
vention in which the Knights of Labor, the trade unions, and
frequently also miscellaneous reform organisations took part.
Nowhere does there seem to have been in these campaigns the
slightest friction between the Knights and the trade unions.
In many cases there was co-operation also between organised
labour and the remnants of the Greenback party and other farm-
ers' organisations, such as the Agricultural Wheel, in Arkansas,
and the Farmers' Alliance, in Texas. Similarly, socialist sec-
tions gave their support to the labour tickets. Nowhere does
there seem to have been a socialist ticket in the field where la-
bour organisations had their candidates. The platform in each
case laid the greatest stress on labour demands. For instance,
the People's party of Wisconsin demanded the prohibition of
child labour, the abolition of the contract system on public work,
the prevention of competition between convict and free labour,
the enactment of a weekly-payment law, more adequate safety
legislation, an improved Federal contract labour law, and the
reduction of the hours of labour proportional to the improve-
ment of machinery. Most of the platforms seem, also, to have
reiterated the greenback demand for currency reform. The
Wisconsin platform demanded the increase of currency pro-
portional to the growth of industry, and the issue of greenbacks
by the government to " the people " at not above 3 per cent in-
terest. All of the platforms, also, had a land plank. The most
common demand was for the prohibition of alien land holding.
The Wisconsin platform asked for the public ownership of land,
a graduated income tax, and the reform of patent laws.
The showing made at the election surpassed even all expecta-
tions. The vote in Chicago, where the ferocity of the persecu-
tion of the anarchists was keenly felt and resented by the la-
bour people, was almost 25,000 out of a total of 92,000. A
state senator and several assemblymen were elected. In Mil-
waukee the People's party ticket polled 13,000, carrying the
UN-ION LABOUR PAETIES 463
county. It elected one state senator, six assemblymen, and one
congressman. The labour municipal tickets won out in Lynn,
Massachusetts, Kutland, Vermont, !N'angatuck and South Kor-
walk, Connecticut, Key West, Florida, and Richmond, Vir-
ginia. In Leadville, Colorado, the Knights of Labor elected
one state senator and three assemblymen. In Illinois, outside
of Chicago, five labour or greenback assemblymen were elected.
In IN"ewark, ^N'ew Jersey, the independent labour candidates for
Congress polled 6,300 votes, and one assemblyman was elected.
In St. Louis the workingmen's ticket polled about Y,000. In
the sixth congressional district of Kentucky, the labour candi-
date received so many votes that he contested the seat of Speaker
Carlisle. There was, however, no Republican opponent. A
like situation enabled the Knights of Labor candidate in the
sixth Virginia congressional district to win out. Very poor
showing, on the other hand, was made by the labour tickets in
Maine, Connecticut, Boston, and Baltimore. Independent
greenback candidates everywhere fared even worse than un-
successful labour candidates. Many labour men ran upon old
party tickets, in most cases upon the Democratic ticket. In
Cleveland, Martin A. Foran was re-elected to Congress as a
Democrat ; so was B. F. Shively, a " pioneer Knight of La-
bor," in Indiana. In Massachusetts Robert Howard was
again elected state senator as a Democrat and one Knight of
Labor was elected to the legislature on the same ticket. Like-
wise, several Knights were elected in ISTew York, Connecticut,
and one in Paterson, New Jersey. In St. Louis two Knights
were successful upon the Republican ticket.
With this singular success the attitude of the Federation
of Organised Trades and Labor Unions toward politics was
changed. In 1885, the Federation convention had voted down
a resolution declaring in favour of the foundation of " a strict
workingmen's party." *^ After the elections of 1886, however,
the legislative committee of the Federation declared : " We
regard with pleasure the recent political action of the organised
workingmen of the country, and by which they have demon-
strated that they are determined to exhibit their political power.
42 Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and
Canada, Proceedings, 1885, p. 30.
464 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
We, in full accord therewith, recommend to organised labour
throughout the country that they persist in their recent efforts
to the end that labour may achieve its just rights through the
exercise of its political powers." *^ The convention of the
Federation endorsed this recommendation in a resolution urging
" a most generous support to the independent political move-
ment of the workingmen." ^* Grand Master Workman Pow-
derly of the Knights of Labor, however, continued to oppose
independent political action. Answering the invitation to speak
to the *' Workingmen's Convention " at Philadelphia, he ad-
vised it '^ not to take any action as a party." *^ His was a lone
protest, however, and passed quite unheeded by labour.
Immediately after the elections of 1886 steps were taken
everywhere to give permanence to the temporary organisations
called into being by the exigencies of these campaigns. A move
had already been made as early as the summer of 1886 to effect
the organisation of a national independent labour party. The
Chicago Express, upon the " request of over 500 petitioners,"
had issued a call to the " Knights of Labor, the Farmers' Al-
liance, the Farmers' and Laborers' Co-operative Union, Wheel-
ers, Grangers, Greenbackers, Corn-Planters, Anti-Monopolists,"
to send representatives to a convention to be held at Indian-
apolis, September 1, 1886, to organise a political party, " under
which to enroll the industrial vote of the nation." Representa-
tives from six States were at the Indianapolis convention.
^Nothing was done by this convention except to call another
convention to meet at Cincinnati, February 22, 1887. Imme-
diately after the November elections, John Swintons Paper
began urging that as many labour organisations as possible
should be represented at this Cincinnati convention, because
labour could not create any great national political movement
in this country without the aid of the farmers.*® Alliance in
politics with the farmers had already been effected by the
Knights of Labor in Arkansas and Texas. The convention
of the National Farmers' Alliance of November, 1886, also
declared in favour of a " union of the farmers with the labor
43 Ihid., 1886, p. 9. ts John Swinton's Paper, Dec. 26,
44 Ibid., 20. 1886.
46 Ihid., Nov. 14, 1886.
UNION LABOUR PARTIES 465
organisations to ameliorate all evils oppressing both classes in
common." ^^
Comparatively few of the 458 delegates who attended the
Cincinnati convention were workingmen. Farmers distinctly
predominated among the delegates; and although most of the
farmer delegates were members of the Knights of Labor, the
convention was in no sense controlled by wage-earners. A few
of the delegates represented labour organisations of cities in the
Middle West, but there were almost no representatives of the
workingmen of the East. This Cincinnati convention organ-
ised the ISTational Union Labor party. All of the members
of the national executive committee elected were farmers. The
platform, however, endorsed substantially all of the distinctly
wage-earners' demands of the preamble of the Knights. Among
these demands was a plank calling for the reduction of hours
of labour commensurate with the improvements effected in ma-
chinery. Immediately after the organisation of the Union La-
bor party, the national executive committee of the Green-
back Labor party declared the latter organisation dissolved.
Very promptly, also, the new party put several lecturers into
the field to increase its membership.
Organised labour, however, was not at all united as to whether
it should merge its political movement with this new party.
In the Middle Western cities this was done quite readily. In
Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, and to some extent
in Cincinnati, bitter dissensions were called forth by this pro-
posal. The New York United Labor party decided to have
nothing to do with the new organisation, because it had rejected
a single-tax plank. John Swintons Paper, on the other hand,
favoured the new party, and was instrumental in starting a
few Union Labor party sections in New York in opposition
to the United Labor party. The quarrel grew so bitter that
Swinton accused the United Labor party managers of having
" sold out " to old-party machines in the preceding autumn
election. By July, 1887, the situation was such that the Mil-
waukee labour party voted to rescind its action in changing its
names from the People's party to the Union Labor party, until
^7 Ibid., Dec. 5. 1886.
466 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
" the Union Labor and United Labor parties have gathered
into one common camp.'' ^*
The municipal elections of the spring of 1887, however, did
not mark any falling oil in the interest taken by organised
labour in independent politics. Union Labor party, Knights
of Labor, or labour tickets were in the field in at least fifty-
nine localities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati,
Indianapolis, East St. Louis, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Dubuque,
Kansas City (Missouri), Denver, and San Diego (California).
Probably the most important contest of the independent la-
bour forces in the spring of 1887, was the general municipal
election in Chicago. Such was the fear of a Union Labor
party triumph that the old parties combined upon a fusion
ticket. The labour candidates were most violently denounced
as anarchists and cutthroats. The expectation that the labour
party would carry the city did not come true ; the labour ticket
polled 25,000 votes as against 52,000 for the fusion forces.
In Milwaukee, also, the labour forces were opposed by a fusion
ticket. Against the combined old parties the Union Labor
judicial candidates swept the city of Milwaukee, though the
country vote of the county defeated them. Nine of the alder-
men elected were labour candidates. In Cincinnati the Union
Labor candidate for mayor came within 600 votes of being
elected, leading the Democratic candidates by above 5,000 votes.
The labour ticket won out in at least nineteen more localities,
mostly in the Middle West. In Pater son. New Jersey, the
labour ticket lost by only 300 votes. Philadelphia, Kansas
City, St. Louis and Denver were the places where the showing
of labour was most disappointing.
By the autumn of 1887 the independent labour party move-
ment was clearly losing strength. One of the chief factors in
its decline was the bitter dissension which almost everywhere
broke out in the independent labour party forces. In Chicago
the Union Labor party was split in two in the autumn election
of 1887. The one faction bargained with the Democrats, while
the other openly advocated socialism. In Cincinnati, also,
there was a split in the labour party as early as May, 1887.
Buchanan's comment upon the situation as it presented itself
48 Ibid., July 17, 1887.
UNION LABOUR PARTIES 467
in the autumn of the year is significant. In giving hi& analysis
of what the difficulty with the independent labour party move-
ment had been, he stated : " Men representing a dozen dif-
ferent shades of opinion have come together ostensibly to pool
their issues and amalgamate the elements variedly represented.
When they have come to write the ^ union ' platform . . .
each one claimed that he had the cure-all. ... Well, the up-
shot of the business has been a few truces, and the stronger
faction has written the platform, while the rest have gone home
sore-headed." ^^
Out of the autumn elections of 1887 organised labour could,
indeed, get little comfort. The Union Labor party ran state
tickets in Massachusetts, N'ew York, Pennsylvania, Ohio^ Ken-
tucky, and Iowa. In Ohio the party made its best showing,
polling 25,000 votes. The "labor " candidate for governor
received but 600 votes in Massachusetts. In Pennsylvania the
party could muster less than 9,000 votes. In New York the
Union Labor party barely commanded 1,000 votes. The
United Labor party, with Henry George as candidate for
secretary of state, also made a disappointing showing. In the
prairie States the Union Labor party fared much better than
in the industrial centres. The elections of autumn made it
clear that the wave of independent political activity by the
wage-earners had about spent its force. The Union Labor
party had dismally failed to secure the votes of the workingmen
of the cities.
The spring elections of 1888 were almost as disappointing
to labour as those of the preceding autumn. In Chicago there
was again the old split between the socialists and the conserva-
tives. The socialists ran their own Radical Labor party
ticket, but secured only 3,600 votes. The United Labor
party made combinations with the Democrats in all wards
where this could be arranged. Where it ran its own candidates
it made no better showing than did the socialists. In Kansas
City, also, the socialist and " labor " forces opposed each other.
The " labor " ticket polled 900 votes as against 2,000 in 1887.
Dubuque, carried by the "labor" forces in 1887, now turned
them out of office. In Milwaukee the Union Labor party
49 Chicago Labor Enquirer, Nov. 26, 1887.
468 HISTORY OF LABOUR m THE UNITED STATES
made a determined effort to elect its city ticket. Against it
was arrayed an old party fusion ticket, as well as independent
socialist candidates. The socialist ticket was responsible for
the defeat of the Union Labor party. The " Citizen's " ticket
secured a plurality of but 900 votes, while the socialist vote
was almost 1,000. In Galesburg, Illinois, organised labour
scored its only victory in independent politics during the spring
of 1888. At that place two striking engineers on the Burling^
ton railway were elected as aldermen.
The spring elections of 1888 show that the socialists had
withdrawn their support from the independent labour party
forces. In Denver and Philadelphia the socialists seem to have
captured the labour party organisation, but they could not get
any very considerable support from the wage-earners. Per-
sonal animosities were another element of disruption within
the labour forces almost everywhere. The Chicago labour party
seems to have been the worst sufferer in this respect.
In the presidential election of the autumn of 1888 organised
labour split its forces. In May the United and the Union La-
bor parties held their conventions simultaneously in Cin-
cinnati. The efforts made to unite them, however, proved un-
availing, because the United Labor party would not recede
from its advocacy of the single tax. It named Robert H.
Cowdrey for president, while the Union Labor party candi-
date was A. J. Streeter, the president of the northern Farmers'
Alliance. Late in the campaign the United Labor party with-
drew from the struggle, except in I^ew York. The Union
Labor party of the campaign of 1888 was distinctly a farm-
ers' party, although its platform contained most of the planks
of the preamble of the Knights of Labor. In Kansas, where
the Union Labor party got its largest vote, not a single me-
chanic was upon its ticket. ITor did organised labour give its
support to this party. Many of the most prominent leaders
of organised labour served as old-party campaigners in this elec-
tion. Charles Litchman, secretary of the Knights of Labor,
John Jarrett, ex-president of the iron and steel workers, and
John Campbell, of the glass-workers, were stump speakers for
Harrison. The window-glass workers' union. Local Assembly
300, Knights of Labor, made a considerable contribution to
UNION LABOUR PARTIES 469
the Republican campaign fund. Henry George, on the other
hand, worked for the election of Cleveland. The independent
labour party organisations in most cities, also, were mere an-
nexes of one or the other of the old parties. During the cam-
paign, Powderly said : " There is no Knights of Labor ticket
in the field, and the ticket through which the most practical
results can be secured is the ticket which the Knights of Labor
should support." ^^
The activity of labour leaders on behalf of old-party candi-
dates in the campaign of 1888 was a source of much trouble
within the unions. A later secret circular of the General Ex-
ecutive Board of the Knights of Labor made the claim that
the partisan political activity of several of its ofiicers in the
presidential campaign of 1888 cost the Order no less than
100,000 members. In Cleveland the trades assembly had be-
come so much of a ^^ Democratic side-show," that a rival central
labour union was organised. As early as February, 1888, a
determined effort was made in the Chicago Trades and Labor
Assembly to bar all unions whose main activity lay in the po-
litical field. The independent political movement of organised
labour had by this time reached the stage of utter collapse.
Streeter, the Union Labor party nominee, received almost
no votes in industrial centres in the election of 1888. Mil-
waukee with several thousand votes for Streeter was the one
large city in which the Union Labor party showed any strength.
The 38,000 votes cast for Streeter in Kansas, 29,000 in Texas,
19,000 in Missouri, and 11,000 in Arkansas, must be con-
trasted with the few votes he polled in the industrial States.
While the Union Labor party gained no support from the
workingmen of the cities on the strength of its name and plat-
form, these proved a decided handicap with the farmer voters.
Its candidates were denounced as being anarchists. Less than
three weeks before the election an expose of the Order of the
Videttes made the rounds of the Kansas press. The Order of
the Videttes was represented as the controlling inner ring of
the Union Labor party. The overthrow of all law and order
was claimed to be the aim of this Order, though its pretended
50 Pittsburgh Trades Journal, Sept. 15, from a large number of local labour and of
1888. The account of the political move- farmers' papers, including John Swinton's
ment outside of New York was compiled Paper.
470 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ritual read like that of any other secret fraternal organisation.
In fact, it is doubtful whether such an organisation as the
Order of Videttes ever existed. About a week after the ex-
pose of the ritual, a story was circulated that an express pack-
age, marked ^' glass, handle with care,'' consigned to Winfield,
Kansas, exploded while being handled by the agent at Coffey-
ville. As the state headquarters of the Union Labor party
were at Winfield, the claim was made that the Coffeyville ex-
press package contained dynamite intended for the Order of
the Videttes. In Arkansas similar charges seem to have been
made in this campaign against the Union Labor party.
CHAPTER XIII
REORGANISATION, 1888-1896
The Perfection of the Clasa Alignment. Decreased influence of industrial
fluctuations, 472. The trade agreement idea, 472. The huge corporation,
473. The courts, 473.
The Progress of the Trade Unions. New unions, 473. Increase in mem-
bership, 474. Strikes during 1888, 474. The Burlington strike, 474.
Resumption of the eight-hour struggle, 475. Action of the convention of
the Federation in 1888, 475. The agitational campaign, 475. Selection of
the carpenters as the entering wedge, 476. Their success, 477. Unwise
selection of the miners to follow the carpenters, 477. End of the eight
hour movement, 478. General appraisal of the movement, 478. Backward-
ness of the bricklayers on the shorter hours question, 478. The trade-
agreement idea in the building trades, 479. The closed shop, 479. The
stove moulders' agreement, 480. Peculiarity of the industry from the mar-
keting standpoint, 480. The Stove Founders' National Defense Associa-
tion, 480. The St. Louis strike, 481. Further strikes, 481. The national
trade agreement of 1890, 481.
The Liquidation of the Knights of Labor. Decrease in membership, 1886-
1890, 482. Relative increase in importance of the rural membership, 482.
Increasing aversion to strikes, 483. Relations to the Federation, 483.
Grievances of the trade unions, 483. Rival local trade organisations, 483.
Mutual " scabbing," 484. Refusal of the Order to participate in the eight-
hour movement of 1890, 484. Final efforts for a reconciliation, 485. Their
failure, 485. Withdrawal from the Order of the national trade asemblies,
486. Shoemakers, 486. Machinists, 486. Spinners, 486. Situation in the
coal mining industry, 487. The United Mine Workers of America, 487.
Situation in the beer-brewing industry, 488. Increasing predominance of
politics and of the farmer element in the Order, 488. The Southern Farm-
ers' Alliance, 488. Pivotal role of the merchant in the Southern economy,
488. Northern Farmers' Alliance, 489. The Shreveport session of the
Southern Alliance, 1887, 490. The Agricultural Wheel, 490. Session of
the Southern Alliance in 1889, and the abandonment of co-operation for
legislative reform, 490. Alliance with the Knights of Labor, 491. The
common programme, 491. Middle-class character of the Knights, 492.
Political successes in 1890, 492. The Knights and an independent reform
party, 493. Cincinnati convention in 1891 and the People's party, 493.
Omaha convention in 1892, 494. Election of J. R. Sovereign as Grand Mas-
ter W^orkman of the Knights, 494. His farmer philosophy, 494.
The Reverses of the Trade Unions. Neglect of legislation by the Federa-
tion, 495. The Homestead strike, 495. Negotiations for a new scale of
wages, 496. Battle with the Pinkertons, 497. Defeat of the union and
the elimination of unionism, 497. The miners' strike at Cceur d'Al^ne, 497.
Quelling the strike, 498. The switchmen's strike in Buffalo, 498. Its fail-
471
472 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ure, 498. Coal miners' strike in Tennessee, 498. Its failure, 499. The les-
son, 499. Gompers' view, 499, The stimulus to industrial unionism, 500.
Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union, 500. The panic of
1893, 501. Gompers' hopeful view, 501.
Trade Unions and the Courts. The miners' strike, 501. The Pullman
strike, 502. Court injunctions, 502. Violence, 502. Arrests for contempt
of court, 502. The Pullman boycott, 503. The general managers' asso-
ciation, 503. Attitude of the Federation, 503. End of the strike, 503.
The court record of the labour unions during the eighties, 504. The evo-
lution of the doctrines of conspiracy as applied to labour disputes, 504.
Real significance of Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842), 504. The first injunc-
tions, 505. Legal justifications, 505. The Sherman law and the Inter-
state Commerce Act, 505. Stages in the evolution of the doctrine that the
right to do business is property, 505. The part of the doctrine of con-
spiracy in the theory of the injunction, 507. Injunctions during the
eighties, 507. The " blanket injunction," 507. The Ann Arbor injunction,
507. The Debs case, 508. Statutes against " labour conspiracies," 508.
The Latest Attempt towards a Labour Party. The causes of the change
on the question of politics, 509. Convention of the Federation in 1892,
509. "Political programme," 509. Gompers' attitude in 1893, 511. The
disputed plank 10, 511. Referendum vote, 511. Sporadic political efforts
in 1894, 511. Their failure, 512. Gompers' attack on the "political pro-
gramme," 512. The "legislative programme" at the convention in 1894,
512. Attitude of the convention in 1895, 513. The Federation and the
campaign of 1896, 514.
The Socialists and Labour Organisations. The factional struggle, 1887-
1889, 514. Final victory of the trade union faction, 515. Its hope of win-
ning the Federation over to socialism, 516. Relation to the New York Cen-
tral labour bodies, 516. Central Labor Federation, 516 The socialist
question at the convention of the Federation in 1890, 517 Daniel De Leon
and the new tactics, 517 The United Hebrew Trades, 518. Socialists and
the Knights of Labor, 518. Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance, 519. Con-
cluding summary, 519.
By the end of the eighties the labour movement had attained
such a degree of class organisation that, compared with former
years, a transition from prosperity to depression no longer led
to appreciable change in its character. Formerly it had cen-
tred on economic or trade union action during prosperity and
then abruptly changed to panaceas and politics with the descent
of depression. Now the movement, notwithstanding changes
in membership, became stable in the alignment of classes. In-
dustrial development ceased to be completely overshadowed by
periodic fluctuations of markets. The new factors of a more
permanent nature, which revealed themselves after the year
1888, were the national trade agreement, beginning with the
stove-moulding industry; the large manufacturing corporation
TRADE UNIONS 4Y3
with its enormous fighting capacity, which came to light in the
Homestead strike against the Carnegie Steel Company; the
restraining power of the courts against lahour, which found ex-
pression in injunctions; and the application of the Federal
commerce and anti-trust laws to lahour organisations. The
moulders' trade agreement^, after 1891, furnished the labour
movement with a concrete ideal and showed what a well or-
ganised national union is capable of attaining in a standardised
competitive industry. The Homestead strike of 1892 gave a
glimpse of the crushing power of the coming trust. The rail-
way strikes of 1893-1894 demonstrated that the employers had
obtained a powerful ally in the courts. Each of these new
factors, both favourable and unfavourable, served to draw more
clearly and more permanently the line of class division.
THE PROGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS
The Great Upheaval of 1886 had suddenly swelled the mem-
bership of trade unions, and consequently, during several years
following, notwithstanding the prosperity in industry, further
growth was bound to proceed at a slower rate.^ In his presi-
dential address at the convention of the American Federation
of Labor held in December, 1888, at St. Louis, Gompers said: ^
" In the past year, when the tendency in all other directions of
the labour movement to disintegration of membership has been
going on and interest in their organisation laxing,^ we may
justly pride ourselves when we know that the trade union move-
ment has not only maintained but actually increased its nu-
merical strength."
However, this increase had not been large and, in some in-
stances, there had been an actual loss. The Cigar Makers'
1 The following new unions were organ- Piano Makers' International Union, the
ised: in 1888 the Machinists' Interna- United Association of Plumbers, Gas Fit-
tional Association, the United Brother- ters, Steam Fitters and Steam Fitters'
hood of Paper Makers of America, the Helpers of the United States and Canada,
International Association of Sheet Metal the Coal Miners' and Coal Laborers' Na-
Workers, the Steam and Hot Water Fit- tional Progressive Union, the Boot and
ters' and Helpers' National Association; Shoe Workers' International Union, the
and in 1889 the International Brother- Tin and Sheet Iron Workers' International
hood of Blacksmiths, the Atlantic Coast Association, and the Sailors' and Fire-
Seamen's Union, the National Letter Car- men's International Amalgamated Society,
riers' Association, the International Print- 2 American Federation of Labor, Pro-
ing Pressmen's and Assistants' Union, the ceedings, 1888, p. 10.
Wire Weavers' Protective Association of s Referring to the Knights of Labor.
America, the Varnishers' Hard Wood and
474 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
International Union had 20,566 members in 1887, 17,199 in
1888, 17,555 in 1889, but increased in 1890 to 24,624.^ The
typographical union had 19,190 members in 1887, 17,491 in
1888, and regained its former strength in 1889, when the figure
reached 21,120.^ The bricklayers' union (unaffiliated with the
Federation) had a more regular growth; 16,489 members in
1887, 20,110 in 1888, 21,348 in 1889, and 24,022 in 1890.«
But the most rapidly growing union was the Brotherhood of
Carpenters' and Joiners'; its membership was 5,789 in 1885,
21,423 in 1886, and 53,769 in 1890J
The statistics of strikes during the latter eighties, like the
figures of membership, show that after the strenuous years
from 1885 to 1887 the labour movement had entered a more
or less quiet stage in its history. Bradstreefs places the num-
ber of strikers during 1888 at 211,016, as against 345,073 in
1887, but while only 37.9 per cent of all strikers succeeded in
1887, 50.2 per cent succeeded in 1888.®
Most prominent among the strikes was the one of 60,000 iron
and steel workers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the West, which
was carried to a successful conclusion against a strong com-
bination of employers. The Amalgamated Association of Iron
and Steel Workers stood at the zenith of its power about this
time, and was able, in 1889, with the mere threat of a strike,
to dictate terms to the Carnegie Steel companies. The most
noted and the last great strike of a railway brotherhood was the
one of the locomotive engineers on the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad. The strike was begun jointly on Feb-
ruary 27, 1888, by the brotherhoods of locomotive engineers
and locomotive firemen. The main demands were made by the
engineers, who asked for the abandonment of the system of
classification and for a new wage scale. Two months previ-
ously, the Knights of Labor had declared a miners' strike
against the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, em-
ploying 80,000 anthracite miners, and the strike had been ac-
companied by a sympathetic strike of engineers and firemen
* Industrial Commission, Report, 1901, 7 Industrial Commission, Report, 1901,
XVII, 280. XVII, 128.
6 Barnett, The Printers, 376. 8 Bradstreefs, Jan. 26, 1889. The fig-
6 These figures are taken from an un- ures given by the United States Bureau of
published history of the union. Labor, Report, are 379,676 for 1887, and
147,704 for 1888.
EIGHT HOUKS 475
belonging to the Order. The members of the brotherhoods
had filled their places and in retaliation the former Heading
engineers and firemen now came and took the places of the
Burlington strikers, so that on March 15 the company claimed
to have a full contingent of employes. The brotherhoods or-
dered a boycott upon the Burlington cars, which was partly en-
forced, but they were finally compelled to submit. The strike
was not officially called off until January 3, 1889. Notwith-
standing the defeat of the strike, the damage to the railway
was enormous, and neither the railways of the country nor the
brotherhoods since that date have permitted a serious strike of
their members to occur.
The lull in the trade union movement was broken at the
convention of the Federation in December, 1888, which de-
clared that a general demand should be made for the eight-
hour day on May 1, 1890.® The vote upon this resolution stood
38 to 8. The chief advocates of the resolution were the dele-
gates of the carpenters, who announced that they were in-
structed to work for a general adoption of the eight-hour day in
1890.^*^ The boiler makers, the typographical union, the fur-
niture workers, and the granite cutters cast their votes against
the resolution. To carry through the programme, the conven-
tion once more referred to the affiliated unions the question of
making the American Federation of Labor a strike benefit
organisation. The co-operation of all labour organisations in
the eight-hour movement was also requested. The executive
council was instructed to issue pamphlets giving arguments for
the establishment of the eight-hour day and to arrange for mass
meetings throughout the country in the interest of the move-
ment.^* Another resolution declared in favour of establishing
eight-hour leagues composed of non-wage-earners in all local-
ities.*^
In pursuance of these instructions the Executive Council of
the Federation at once inaugurated an aggressive campaign.
For the first time in its history it employed special salaried or-
9 American Federation of Labor, Pro- American Federation of Labor and the
ceedings, 1888, p, 28. In the following Eight-Hour Day.
account of the eight-hour movement in lO Ibid., 22.
1890 the author drew largely from an un n Ibid., 28.
published monograph by E. B. Witte, The 12 Ibid., 34.
476 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ganisers. Two pamphlets ^^ were issued and widely distributed.
On every important holiday mass meetings were held in the
larger cities. On Labour Day, 1889, no less than 420 such
mass . meetings were held throughout the country.^* Yet it
seems clear that the movement inaugurated by the convention
of 1888 attracted much less public attention than that of 1886.
Again the Knights of Labor came out against it.-^^
The convention of the Federation of 1889 materially modified
the plan of campaign. The idea of a general strike for the
eight-hour day in May, 1890, was abandoned, but the Executive
Council was authorised to select one union, which alone should
move for this object. After it had won out another union was
to be selected, and so on until all organised labourers should
have gained their demand. To assist the union selected to lead
in the fight, the Executive Council was authorised to levy a
special assessment of 2 cents per week per member for a period
of five weeks upon all afiiliated unions. ^^ This strike benefit
amendment to the constitution was opposed by the representa-
tives of the typographical, granite cutters, and tailors' unions,
who were at this time committed to a nine-hour day, believing
the eight-hour day unattainable.-^'^
In March, 1890, the Executive Council selected the car-
penters as the union which should make the demand on May 1,
1890. At the same time the United Mine Workers ^® were
selected to move for the eight-hour day after the carpenters
should have won their demands. To aid the carpenters, the
special assessment provided for the convention of 1889 was
levied. Though many unions failed to pay their quota, the
assessment netted the carpenters a considerable sum. Organ-
isers, also, were commissioned to help the carpenters.^®
The choice of the carpenters as the union to lead the fight
for the eight-hour day was indeed fortunate. Beginning with
1886, that union had a rapid growth and was now the largest
union affiliated with the Federation. For several years it had
13 The Eight-Hour Day Primer, by 17 Ibid., 32.
George E. McNeill, and The Economic and 18 Formed in 1890 through the amalga-
Social Importance of the Eight-Hour mation of the National Trades Assembly
Movement, by George Gunton. 135 of the Knights of Labor and the Na-
14 American Federation of Labor, Pro- tional Progressive Union.
ceedinga, 1889, p. 15. i» American Federation of Labor, Pro-
15 Ibid., 30. ceedings, 1890, p. 13.
16/&W., 32.
EIGHT HOUES ^ 477
been accumulating funds for the eight-hour day, and, when the
movement was inaugurated in May, 1890, it achieved a large
measure of success. According to Secretary P. J. McGuire,
it won the eight-hour day in 137 cities, and gained a nine-hour
day in most other places. ^^ The carpenters kept up their strug-
gle to make the eight-hour day universal. In 1892 their con-
vention declared that strikes for that purpose should be given
preference over all other movements.^^
Contrary to the original plan, the miners' strike for the
eight-hour day, which was to follow that of the carpenters, did
not materialise. After the carpenters had so generally won
their demand, it was too late for the miners to take up the battle
in the same year. The convention of the Federation in 1890,
therefore, designated them as the union which should move for
the eight-hour day on May 1, 1891. The convention directed,
also, that a special assessment of the same amount as that levied
for the carpenters should be collected for the miners. ^^ How-
ever, the contemplated movement came to naught. The selec-
tion of the miners to undertake the fight at this time was a fatal
mistake. Less than one-tenth of the coal miners of the country
were then organised. With the constant decline in coal prices,
the miners' union had for years been losing ground. The se-
lection of the other applicant for undertaking the movement in
1891, the typographical union^ would appear to have been a
preferable choice. Some months before May 1, 1891, the
United Mine Workers had become involved in a disastrous
strike in the Connellsville coke region. In this emergency the
Executive Council of the Federation was asked to levy imme-
diately the assessment authorised by the convention of 1890
in aid of the miners' eight-hour movement. This the Council
refused to do. The United Mine Workers in their turn now
refused to strike for the eight-hour day on May 1, 1891. A
strike at that time, in fact, President Gompers admitted, would
20 Gompers, " Report," in ibid. very little progress for a long time after
21 Carpenter, September, 1892. In the 1890. During the succeeding period of
midst of the period of depression, the car- depression the union lost one-half of its
pentcrs' convention of 1894 declared that membership. In consequence it lost in
the time was most opportune for estab- many places the shorter hours won in
lishing the eight-hour day universally, 1890. Cleveland Citizen, Nov. 9, 1895.
since contractors would not object to it 22 American Federation of Labor, Prg-
while work was slack. (Carpenter, Oc- ceedinga, 1890, pp. 40-42,
tober, 1894.) Nevertheless, they made
4Y8 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
have been useless, since the operators had accumulated large
stores of coal in anticipation of the strike, of which they had
been warned so long in advance.^^
The convention of the Federation in 1891 was asked to give
its support to an eight-hour movement in 1892 by the bakers'
union, and to a struggle for the nine-hour day by the typo-
graphical union. The convention, however, voted to leave to
the Executive Council the choice of the union to lead the next
effort.^* The latter in turn found the time inopportune for
beginning another struggle. The next convention, in 1892,
merely instructed the Executive Council to keep up agitation
for the eight-hour work-day, and especially to prepare some
union to lead the next fight.
In this manner the eight-hour movement inaugurated by the
convention of 1888 came to an end. Apart from the strike of
the carpenters in 1890, it had not led to any general movement
to gain the eight-hour work-day. During these years, however,
the percentage of strikes for a reduction of the hours of labour
was much greater than at any other time after 1886. In the
reports of President Gompers during these years, it was claimed
that hundreds of thousands of workingmen had won reduced
hours of labour through these movements. Notable progress
was made, not only by the carpenters, but by other unions in
the building trades. By 1891 the eight-hour day had been se-
cured for all branches of the industry in Chicago, St. Louis,
Denver, Indianapolis, and San Francisco. In New York and
Brooklyn the carpenters, stone cutters, painters, 'and plasterers
worked eight hours, while the bricklayers, masons, and plumbers
worked nine. In St. Paul the bricklayers alone worked nine
hours, the remaining trades, eight. ^^ The backwardness of the
bricklayers in these cities was due to their policy of aloofness
from the general labour movement. Their national convention
in 1890 declared, with regard to the eight-hour movement in-
augurated by the Federation, that " the interests of the country
are not yet of such a nature as would warrant our departure
from our present effective system . . . and the time has not
yet come when we could with safety and propriety make such
23 Ibid., 1891, p. 12. tion of Builders, Proceedings, 1891, p.
24 Ibid,., 45. 162.
25 Convention of the National Associa-
EIGHT HOURS 479
demand, and [we desire] to retain our autonomy in all matters
which pertain to our welfare as a trade." ^^
It is significant that in 1891, when President Gompers asked
the affiliated national unions to name the three things upon
which the American Federation of Labor should concentrate
its efforts, every one of them included among these the reduc-
tion of hours of labour. ^^ It is no less significant that through-
out the eighties the argument of Ira Steward that shorter hours
would lead to increased wages by raising the standard of life,
receded into the background before the theory of " making
work." Gompers declared in 1887 that " the answer to all
opponents to the reduction of the hours of labor could well be
given in these words : ^ that so long as there is one man who
seeks employment and cannot obtain it, the hours of labor
are too long.' " ^^ He expounded this philosophy of the eight-
hour movement at greater length to the convention of 1889.
In speaking of " the hundreds of thousands of our fellows, who,
through the ever-increasing inventions and improvements in
the modem methods of production, are rendered ' superfluous,' "
he said, " we must find employment for our wretched
Brothers and Sisters by reducing the hours of labor or we will
be overwhelmed and destroyed." ^^ Again in his report of
1893, he urged that " the only method by which a practical,
just and safe equilibrium can be maintained in the industrial
world for the fast and ever increasing introduction of machinery,
is a commensurate reduction in the hours of labor." ^^
The system of the settlement of trade disputes by arbitration,
which had been advocated by William H. Sayward, the secre-
tary of the National Builders' Association since its inception,
Avas formally approved by the association in 1890. However,
it carried a provision for the open shop and against the sympa-
thetic strike,^ ^ and the trade unions were not desirous even of
giving it a trial. The exception to this rule also was the brick-
26 Quoted from official records in manu- so Ibid., 1893, p. 11.
script history of the union. In 1886 the 31 Stockton in his study of the closed
bricklayers had similarly refused to par- shop in American trade unions said:
ticipate in the eight-hour movement and " The campaign for the closed shop was
demanded instead, the nine-hour day, carried on among a large number of un-
which they secured. ions between 1885 and 1893. The strong
27 American Federation of Labor, Pro- closed-shop unions already mentioned
ceedings, 1891, p. 13. [during the seventies: the Iron and Steel
28 Ibid., 1887, p. 10. Workers, Granite Cutters, Cigarmakers,
29 Ibid., 1889, p. 16. Hatters, Printers, Moulders, and Brick-
480 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
layers, who entered into a written agreement with the master
masons' association in Boston in 1890.*^^
While one of the earliest stable trade agreements in a con-
spicuous trade covering a local field was the bricklayers' agree-
ment in Chicago in 1887, the era of trade agreements really
dates from the national system established in the stove foundry
industry in 1891. It is true that the iron and steel workers
had worked under a national trade agreement since 1866.
However, the trade was so exceptionally strong that its example
had no power to make other trades aspire with confidence
towards the same.^^
The stove industry had early reached a high degree of de-
velopment and organisation. There had existed since 1872
the National Association of Stove Manufacturers, an organisa-
tion dealing with prices, and embracing in its membership the
largest stove manufacturers of the country. The stove foundry-
men, therefore, unlike the manufacturers in practically all other
industries, controlled in a large measure their own market.
Furthermore, the product had been completely standardised
and reduced to a piece-work basis, and machinery had not taken
the place of the moulders' skill. It consequently was no mere
accident that the stove industry was the first to develop a system
of permanent industrial peace. But, on the other hand, this
was not automatically established as soon as the favourable ex-
ternal conditions were provided. In reality, only after years
of struggle, of strikes and lockouts, and after the two sides had
fought each other ^' to a standstill " was the system finally in-
stalled.
The eighties abounded in stove moulders' strikes, and in
1886 the national union began to render effective aid. The
Stove Founders' National Defense Association was formed in
1886 as an employers' association, with its membership reci*uited
from the mercantile association of stove manufacturers. The
Defense Association aimed at a national labour policy; it was
layers] were Joined by the Lasters, Glass unions." "The Closed Shop in American
Bottle Blowers, Window Glass Work- Trade Unions," in JohuR Hopkins Vniver-
ers, Flint Glnss Workers, Machinists, aity Studies, 1911, XXIX, 39-40.
and many local unions in the metal, print- 32 W. H. Sayward, in Industrial Com-
ing, buildin? and miscellaneous trades. mission. Report, 1900, VII, 841-860.
In a few of the building trades unions, as, S3 The trade agreements in the glass
for example the Painters, the closed shop, trades partook of the same exceptional
W*p pr8ctic«»lly obligatory on the locall - character as in the iron and Steel trftdes.
TRADE AGREEMENTS 481
organised for " resistance against any unjust demands of their
workmen, and such other purposes as may from time to time
prove or appear to be necessary for the benefit of the members
thereof as employers of labor." ^^ Thus, after 1886, the align-
ment was made national on both sides. The great battle, how-
ever, was fought the next year.
March 8, 1887, the employes of the Bridge and Beach Manu-
facturing Company in St. Louis struck for an advance in wages
and the struggle at once became one between the international
union and the jN'ational Defense Association. The St. Louis
company sent its patterns to foundries in other districts, but
the union successfully prevented their use. This occasioned
a series of strikes in the West and of lockouts in the East, af-
fecting altogether about 5,000 moulders. It continued thus
until June, when the St. Louis patterns were recalled, the De-
fense Association having provided the company with a sufficient
number of strike-breakers. Each side was in a position to
claim the victory for itself, so evenly matched were the opposing
forces.
During the next four years, disputes in Association plants
were rare. In August, 1890, a strike took place in Pittsburgh,
and, for the first time in the history of the industry, it was set-
tled by a written trade agreement with the local union. This
supported the idea of a national trade agreement between the
two organisations. After the dispute of 1887, negotiations with
this object were from time to time conducted, the Defense As-
sociation invariably taking the initiative. Finally, the national
convention of the union in 1890 appointed a committee to meet
in conference with a like committee of the Defense Association.
The conference took place March 25, 1891, and worked out a
complete plan of government for the stove-moulding industry,
including legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Every
year two committees of three members each, chosen respectively
by the union and the association, were to meet in conference
and to draw up general laws for the year. In case of a dispute
arising in a locality, if the parties immediately concerned were
unable to arrive at common terms, the chief executives of both
34 Commons and Frey, " Conciliation Bureau of Labor, Bviletin, Jan, 1906, p.
and Arbitration in the Stove Industry," in 143.
482 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
organisations, the president of the union, and the president of
the association, were to step in and try to effect an adjustment.
If, however, they too failed, a conference committee composed
of an equal number of members from each side was to be called
in and its findings were to be final. As in every well-consti-
tuted government, the parties were enjoined from engaging in
hostilities while the matter at dispute was being dealt with by
the duly appointed authorities. Each organisation obligated
itself to exercise " police authority " over its constituents, en-
forcing obedience to the " government." The endorsement of
the plan by both organisations was practically unanimous and
has continued in operation without interruption until the pres-
ent day.^^
THE LIQUIDATION OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR
The progress made by the building trades, particularly
the carpenters, the dominance achieved by the Amalga-
mated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, and the es-
tablishment of the stove moulders' national trade agreement
were the high-water marks in 1891 of the unions of skilled men.
On the other hand, the Knights of Labor were rapidly declin-
ing. They fell from a membership of 700,000 in 1886 to
500,982 in 1887, 259,578 in 1888, 220,607 in 1889, and 100,-
000 in 1890. Of the greatest significance was the decrease in
the large cities. In 1886 the aggregate membership in the 20
largest cities of 150,000 inhabitants and over^^ amounted to
about 309,000; in 1887 to about 195,000; and in 1888 it had
fallen to about 82,000. In percentages of the total member-
ship, the decrease was from about 44 per cent in 1886 to 38
per cent in 1887 and finally to about 31 per cent in 1888.^^
No detailed membership statistics were published after 1888,
but it is safe to assume that the same tendency continued at
work. This assumption appears particularly warranted in view
of the close alliance between the Order and the farmers' organi-
sations after 1889, and the rapid growth of the American Fed-
eration of Labor in the large cities.
36 For further details see ibid. compiled from the official membership fig-
36 According to U. S. Census, 1890. ures published with the General Assembly,
37 These figures and percentages are Proceedings,
KNIGHTS OF LABOR 483
With the loss of a foothold in the cities the strike era of the
Knights of Labor came to an end. Henceforth, although
small strikes continued to occur nearly as often as before, long
strikes came at infrequent intervals. After the unsuccessful
strike of 35,000 coal miners and railroad men against the
Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company early in 1888, the
Order engaged in no conspicuous strike until August, 1890,
when it conducted another unsucceesful strike against the iTew
York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company. ^^ The gen-
eral officers of the Order endeavoured to prevent this strike in
accordance with their attitude towards strikes in general. The
decline in membership, the contest with the trade unions, and
the recourse to politics were reducing their energy as a strike
organisation.
After 1887, the bulk of the unskilled labourers having left
the Order, the struggle between the Knights and the trade
unions ceased to be one between the unskilled and skilled por-
tions of the wage-earning class for control of the labour move-
ment, and became instead a mere fight between two rival or-
ganisations. The grievance of the trade unions was stated by
the convention of 1889, as follows : ^^ " Much of the trouble
has been occasioned by the organisation of iTational trade dis-
tricts of the Knights of Labor in crafts where national and
international unions already exist. 'Not only has the creation
of this dual authority been productive of evil results, but too
often the National trade districts have been made the dumping
ground for men who have been branded as unfair by the trade
unions. '^ Indeed, numerous illustrations can be adduced where
38 The New York Central Road had been tion in 1893 or the presidential year of
known since the sixties as the fairest em- 1892. But, notwithstanding this advice,
ployer among railways. The Vanderbilt which was also reinforced by the warn-
policy toward the organisations of em- ing that the Order was not in a position to
ploy 6s had been one of cordial toleration. render any strike assistance, 2,500 switch-
In consequence the system was entirely men, brakemen, yardmen, freight-handlers
unaffected by the strike of 1877. When and clerks struck on August 8. The
the Knights of Labor appeared, the same strike succeeded in tying up the passen-
liberal policy was pursued. However, a ger traffic between New York and Albany
change occurred about 1890 and the rail- for three days and also caused a consid-
road began to discharge men for no other erable freight blockade. It was, however,
reason, as the employes believed, than ac- speedily defeated, primarily because the
tivity in the organisation. The matter firemen and locomotive engineers refused
came to a climax in August, 1890, while to strike in sympathy. General Assembly,
President Chauncey Depew was absent in Proceedings, 1890, pp. 4-10; also Brad-
Europe, after fifty-five men had been dis- street's, Aug. 16 and 23, 1890.
charged. Powderly counselled the men to 39 American Federation of Labor, Pro-
await the time of the Columbian Exposi- ceedings, 1889, 36-38,
484 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
disaffected local unions of an international or national union
joined the Knights of Labor in order to win an ally for their
cause.^^ On the other hand, the Knights of Labor pointed
out that they were doing useful work by organising the me-
chanics in the small towns. The General Assembly of 1892
authorised the employment of an organiser to form mixed local
assemblies of building trades in cities of 25,000 and less.^^ It
also pointed to numerous cases where the trade unions had
committed similar acts.^^ The breaking up of the Knights
of Labor strike on the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad
by engineers and firemen who were members of the brother-
hoods in January, 1888, and the retaliatory action of the Read-
ing men in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy strike during
the fall of 1888 were salient illustrations of the internecine
war raging within the labour movement.
The relations between the Federation and the Order were no
better than those existing between their respective parts. The
Federation, having decided at its convention in 1888 in favour
of a renewed eight-hour movement, naturally desired to obtain
the co-operation of the Knights. Several meetings for this
purpose were held between the national officers of both organi-
sations. At a conference, held on October 14, the representa-
tives of the Knights '' pointed out that it appeared to them to
be essential, before the necessary unity of action could be ob-
tained which would insure success, that, as far as possible, the
unfortunate disputes and misunderstandings between labor
bodies should be arranged and terminated," ^^ and proposed an
40 National Trade Assembly 217, Steel union of Pittsburgh left the national union
and Iron Workers, was organised as a to join the Knights of Labor. Ibid., Aug.
rival to the Amalgamated Association. 6, 1891.
(Pittsburgh National Labor Tribune, Feb. *l General Assembly, Proceedings, 1892,
11, 1888.) In Chicago the Knights of p. 80.
Labor organised a rival carpenters' coun- 42 The New York Central Labor Union
cil. (Chicago Labor Enquirer, Apr. 14, declared as fair a carpet firm which was
1888.) During 1890-1891 there was boycotted by the Knights of Labor,
considerable trouble between the bakers' (Philadelphia Journal of United Labor,
union and the Knights of Labor, chiefly May 5, 1888.) The iron moulders' union
because the former demanded the closed praised the Puller and Warren Co. as a
shop. (Philadelphia Journal of the friend of labour, against which the
Knights of Labor, June 4, 1891.) In Knights of Labor had been carrying on a
New York City the United Order of Car- boycott since 1884; and numerous other
penters, a rival to the Brotherhood, joined instances. (Ibid., Apr. 21, 1888.)
the Knights of Labor in July, 1890. The 43 " Report of General Executive
Progressive Carpenters' Union, another Board," in General Assembly, Proceed-
rival organisation, had done so earlier. ings, 1889, p. 36.
(Ibid., July 10, 1890.) The Painters'
KNIGHTS VERSUS UNIONS 485
agreement upon the basis of the interchange of cards, the mu-
tual endorsement of labels and the reciprocal promise to refrain
from organising scabs.^^ To this Gompers and McGuire moved
as a counter proposal that the Knights of Labor should revoke
the charters of all trade assemblies, national and local, in ex-
change for which the Federation would urge its members to
join mixed assemblies of the Order.^^ As was to be expected,
the conference resulted in nothing.
The General Assembly, which met November 12, 1889, re-
fused actively to co-operate with the Federation in the eight-
hour movement on the mere formal ground that " no plan has
been submitted to the General Assembly by Mr. Gompers." *®
The convention of the American Federation of Labor, which
met immediately after, December 10, 1889, decided that there-
after no conferences should be held with representatives of
'the Knights of Labor,^"^ and issued an " Address to the Work-
ing People of America.'^ This address said in part : " The
success of the short hour cause is of too vast import to be im-
perilled by policies of masterly inaction or acrobatic posing.
The march toward the eight-hour goal must not be halted at
the behest of the middleman. . . . Experience has also proven
that the wage-earner is the natural and proper guardian of the
wage-earners' right. . . . Professions of harmony and plati-
tudes of peace are a poor recompense for the attempted
weakening of the trade union column." ^^ With regard to
future relations with the Knights, the address went on to say:
^' With the original educational purpose of the Knights of La-
bor, as vested in mixed assemblies, the trade unionists of
America were and are in sympathy. The evidence of this fact
is to be found in the large number of trade unionists who
worked zealously for the building up of the Order in its early
period of growth, but who were forced to leave that organisa-
tion when ambitious and unscrupulous persons sought to trench
upon the rightful prerogatives of the trade unions and subor-
dinate the legitimate labor movement to the aggrandisement
of personal ambition." ^^
44 Ibid. 47 American Federation of Labor, Pro-
45 American Federation of Labor, Pro- ceedinga, 1889, p. 21.
ceedinfja, 1889, p. 14. 48 Ibid., 88.
46 General Assembly, Procfedtn^s, 1889, 49 Ibid., 37.
p. 52.
486 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The same result attended the attempt to bring together the
Federation and the Knights in 1891,^^ and again, upon the
initiative of Joseph E. Buchanan,^ ^ in 1894, as well as the last
attempt made by the brewery workmen's union in 1895.^^
Notwithstanding the fact that much of the trouble between
the Federation and the Knights had been occasioned by the
organisation of national trade assemblies, the latter had no
strong feeling of loyalty to the Order. This was due to many
causes, one of the chief being the obstruction they met on the
part of the mixed district assemblies. The case of the shoe-
makers illustrates this admirably. The Shoemakers' National
Trade Assembly 216 was formed in 1887. It met with con-
siderable trouble in gathering up the shoemakers' local as-
semblies scattered among the various district assemblies. The
trouble grew acute in Cincinnati where District Assembly 48,
contrary to the rule adopted by the General Assembly of 1887,
persistently refused to allow the transfer of its shoemaker lo-
cals. Since the national officers of the Knights were disposed
to render little aid, National Trade Assembly 216 seceded in
February, 1889, and formed the Boot and Shoe Workers' In-
ternational Union.^^
Another cause for leaving the Knights of Labor was named
by the general officers of National Trade Assembly 198, which
had been organised in March 1887, and consisted of pattern
makers, foundrymen, blacksmiths, machinists, boiler makers,
and the respective helpers of each. In May, 1888, they wrote:
" The odium which the Order has gained is damaging to us.
We will have to cut loose from the ^Kjiights of Labor before
the employers will meet us or respect us in any way." ^* In
accordance with this the national trade assembly of machinists
became the next year the National Association of Machinists.''^
Another illustration is provided by the mule spinners' associa-
tion, which had unanimously withdrawn from the Knights of
Labor. " The principal cause for the withdrawal was the
heavy expense of membership in the Knights compared with the
benefit received." ^^ An instance of a later date is supplied by
00 Ibid., 1891, p. 47. 64 Journal of United Labor, May 19,
51 Ibid., 1894, p. 14, 1888.
52 Ibid., 1895, p. 95. 65 National Association of Machinists,
53 From a leaflet issued in 1889 by Constitution 1890, 1.
President Skeffington of the union. S6 Carpenter, May, 1888.
KNIGHTS VERSUS UNIONS 487
the Carriage and Wagon Workers' International Union, which
was organised in 1891 out of District Trade Assembly 247 of
the Knights of Labor.^^
Thus, through a gradual process of secession the unions of
the semi-skilled machine trades, which had their origin in the
Knights of Labor, found their way into the Federation, con-
verting the latter from an organisation primarily of skilled
men into one more representative of the entire labour move-
ment.
A peculiar situation existed in the coal-mining industry.
National Trade Assembly 135 had, in 1889, a membership of
over 10,000 in 16 States, and the Coal Miners' and Laborers'
National Progressive Union a somewhat smaller membership,
mainly in the central competitive region.^^ A minority of
National Trade Assembly 135, headed by National Master
Workman William T, Lewis, had seceded in December, 1888,
from the Knights of Labor in order to join the National
Progressive Union, naming in justification of its action the
persistent interference by District Assembly 15 in the Head-
ing anthracite region and District Assembly 11 in the coke
region, in which actions they had been supported by Powderly.^^
Notwithstanding the hostile feeling aroused, both organisations
had managed to co-operate at the annual interstate conferences
held with the employers. But the downward course that union-
ism took in the coal-mining industry during 1889 and 1890
finally brought the two organisations into closer union and they
formed through amalgamation the United Mine Workers of
America. The new organisation had a peculiar status: It
continued to be affiliated with the Order as a secret organisation
under the name of National Trade Assembly 135, but at the
same time it functioned as an open and independent trade
union affiliated with the American Pederation of Labor.
Since it was doing its important work in the latter capacity,
the membership was gradually giving up allegiance to the Or-
der, so that the latter expelled it in 1894.^*^ A similar double
57 Industrial Commission, Report, 1901, 59 Pittsburgh National Labor Tribune,
XVII, 209. Nov. 17, 1888.
58 This region includes the Pittsburgh SO Secret Circular of the Knights of La-
district in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, hor, Dec. 17, 1894.
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, southeast-
ern Kentucky, and Michigan.
488 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
allegiance was maintained for a time by the International
Union of United Brewery Workmen of America. Originally
an open non-secret trade union, having received a charter from
the Federation in 1887, it allowed a large number of its locals
to remain in the Knights of Labor, and in 1893 became af-
filiated with the Order as a national trade district. The es-
pecial cause at work in the case of the brewery workmen was
the important assistance the Order might render in their boy-
cott against the national organisation of brewery owners. This
long established organisation had originally been called into
existence as a manufacturers' organisation for the purpose of
influencing legislation, but became in 1886 also an association
of employers. It began, in 1888, a struggle against the brew-
ery workmen's union by declaring a lockout to which the union
replied by a nation-wide boycott, which lasted fourteen years.
The brewery workmen maintained their dual affiliation until
1896, when, partly as a result of friction with independent
brewery workmen's organisations within the Order, but mainly
owing to a threat by the Federation to revoke its charter, they
severed connection with the Knights.^ ^
The withdrawal from the Knights of the nationally organised
trades served to strengthen the tendency, already apparent with
the shift of membership, towards politics and the farmers.
The Farmers' and Laborers' Union of America, which in 1889
had organised in eighteen States and territories with a mem-
bership of fully a million ^^ was originated by a group of farm-
ers in Texas in the middle of the seventies, mainly in order to
protect the land tillers against ^' land sharks." By 1878 it had
spread to three counties and a State Alliance was formed. It
went to pieces as a result of greenback party politics, but was
revived in 1879 as a non-political organisation with co-opera-
tive buying and selling as one of its features. The organisa-
tion was secret and admitted women but excluded Negroes. In
the middle of the eighties, co-operative buying and selling b^
came its principal activity and the movement was directed pri-
marily against the domination of the merchant.
The merchant was the pivotal figure in the economy of the
61 SchlUter, The Brewing Industry and 62 Dunning, The Farmers' Alliance His-
the Brewery Workers' Movement in Amer- tory and AgriaUtural Digest, 95.
ica, 142-204, 212-219.
KNIGHTS AND POLITICS 489
South after the War. The small planters and the farmers were
too poor to finance their crops, and therefore were obliged to
resort to the merchant for loans. He willingly advanced them
money, but only on mortgage upon the future crop, with the
outcome that he obtained the right to prescribe what the farmer
should raise. Naturally he found it to his advantage to insist
upon cotton as the only crop, because that would enable him,
first, to make a profit upon a larger amount of cotton, and then
an additional profit upon the wheat, bacon, and other supplies
which he sold to the farmers at exorbitant prices. The organ-
ised farmers in Texas tried to meet this situation by a state
exchange, a joint stock association which gathered from the
members their individual notes and used them as collateral in
buying the quantities of supplies that they ordered.^^
In January, 1887, the Farmers' Alliance of Texas, in con-
junction with the Farmers' Union of Louisiana, an organisa-
tion with a similar career, formed the National Farmers' Al-
liance and Co-operative Union of America with a programme
consisting mainly of propaganda, education, and mutual bene-
fits.®* The marketing side of the work was to remain with the
state organisations. Dr. C. W. Macune, president of the alli-
ance of Texas, was chosen national president.
There had existed since October, 1880, a national farmers'
alliance in the wheat region of the Northwest, which had, in
1887, state alliances in Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Min-
nesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin. This
national alliance, known as the Northern Alliance, organised
by such men as Streeter of Illinois, the presidential candidate
of the Greenback Union Labor party in 1888, was primarily
a political organisation,®^ particularly active in the politics of
the Dakotas and Minnesota.®® As the National Farmers' Al-
liance and Co-operative Union, or the Southern Alliance, de-
sired at this time to remain on a strictly "business," or co-
operative basis, fusion of the two sister organisations was im-
possible.®^
«3 Ibid., 85. compiled under the auspices of the St.
G4:Ibid., 58. The National Alliance Louis Journal of Agriculture, 1890, 237-
took out a Federal charter under the law 247.
of 1885. The Texas State Alliance had 66 Dunning, Farmers' Alliance History.
been incorporated in 1880 in that State. 306, 307.
65 History of the Farmers' Alliance, 67 President Macune said in his address
the Agricultural Wheel, etc., edited and to the Shreveport, La., convention: "It
490 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE IJlSriTED STATES
The first regular session of the Southern Alliance was held at
Shrevesport, Louisiana, October, 1887, and included dele-
gates from Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida, I^orth Carolina,
Alabama, Louisana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.^® At
the convention preliminary preparations were made for amal-
gamation with the Agricultural Wheel. Like the Southern
Alliance, this organisation, which arose in Arkansas in Febru-
ary, 1882, was a protest against exploitation by the merchant.
It soon extended into Tennessee, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Texas,
Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, and Indian Territory. The
national " Wheel " was organised in July, 1886. Although it
had as its object emancipation from the merchant, the Wheel
did not launch into co-operative buying and selling, but agi-
tated a greater diversification of crops in place of cotton. In
addition it had a comprehensive list of legislative demands,
principally relating to legal tender currency, taxation, and
usury laws.^^ In 1887 it claimed a membership of 500,000.
The convention at St. Louis in September, 1889, was the
first to bring the farmers' movement before the country. At
this convention the Alliance completed its amalgamation with
the Wheel and received the affiliation of the Farmers' Alliance
of Kansas, which had hitherto been a part of the Alliance of
the [NTorth, thereby achieving a membership in 18 States, esti-
mated at 1,000,000. But far more significant was the advance
in policy. Mere co-operation and education were recognised
as insufficient. As ex-President Macune, now editor of the
National Economist at Washington, pointed out, the financial
class by the mere device of arbitrary contraction of the
currency when the farmer came on the market as a seller,
and of expanding it when he came as a buyer, was in a position
was, after a full investigation, decided cided to organise, in connection with
that the organisation as it existed in Louisiana, a National Farmers' Alliance
Texas and the States of the South, to and Co-operative Union of America,
which it had spread from and by the au- . . . Let the Alliance be a business or-
thority of the Texas alliance, could ac- ganisation for business purposes, and as
complish nothing by joining the National such, necessarily secret, and as secret, nee
Farmers' Alliance of the Northwest, and essarily strictly non-political." Ihid., 68-
in view of the fact that the cotton belt of 70.
America was a circumscribed country, 68 Ihid., 66.
there was a necessity for a national or- 69 History of the Farmers' Alliance, etc.,
ganisation of those residing in the cot- edited and compiled under the auspices of
ton belt, to the end that the whole world the St. Louis Journal of Agriculture,
of cotton-raisers might be united for self- 1890, pp. 118-144.
protection. ... It was, therefore, de-
KNIGHTS AND POLITICS 491
to neutralise every advantage that accrued to the farmer from
co-operation. As a result of such manipulation, Macune es-
timated that the farmer was swindled out of 50 per cent of his
legitimate income. "^^ To remedy this situation the St. Louis
convention brought out a financial measure known as the sub-
treasury plank, which came to be regarded as the pet project
of the Alliance. Put in a nutshell, this measure provided that
the government should warehouse non-perishable farm products
and upon these as security should loan to the producer 80 per
cent of the market value of the goods in legal tender money
at the nominal rate of 1 per cent interest. It is evident that
the intention of the fathers of this measure was to make the
volume of currency automatically expand during the season of
marketing the crops and consequently to enhance agricultural
prices at that time.
The shift of the Alliance from co-operation to legislative
reform brought it face to face with the question of the mode
of political action. The St. Louis convention favoured both
an active participation in the primary elections of the old
parties and an energetic lobbying activity in Washington. In
this convention the first formal covenant was made between the
Alliance and the Knights of Labor. T. V. Powderly, A. W.
Wright, and Ealph Beaumont, of the Knights, were present at
St. Louis and entered into an agreement with a committee
representing the Alliance, which read in part as follows :
^^ The undersigned committee representing the Knights of Labor,
having read the demands of the National Farmers' Alliance and
Industrial Union, which are embodied in this agreement, hereby
endorse the same on behalf of the Knights of Labor, and for the
purpose of giving practical effect to the demands herein set forth, the
legislative committees of both organisations will act in concert be-
fore Congress for the purpose of securing the enactment of laws in
harmony with the demands mutually agreed. And it is further
agreed, in order to carry out these objects, we will support for office
only such men as can be depended upon to enact these principles in
statute law, uninfluenced by party caucus."
The demands upon which both the Alliance and the Knights
agreed were : first, the abolition of national banks and the issue
TO Dunning, Farmers' Alliance History. Ill, 112.
492 HISTORY OF LABOUR IX THE UNITED STATES
of legal tender treasury notes in lieu of national bank notes,
regulating the amount needed on a per capita basis as the busi-
ness of the country increased ; second, the prohibition of dealing
in futures; third, the free and unlimited coinage of silver;
fourth, the prohibition of alien land ownership and the reclaim-
ing by the government of land granted to railroads but not
actually in use; fifth, equitable and just taxation and economy
in government; sixth, the issue of a suificient amount of frac-
tional paper currency to facilitate exchange through the mails,
and seventh, government ownership of the means of communi-
cation and transportation. A clause provided for the mutual
recognition of labels J ^
This list of demands speaks volumes for the mental subjec-
tion of the Knights of Labor to the farmers' movement, l^one
of these demands may be called a strictly labour demand, and,
even if certain of them tended to benefit labour, such a benefit
would be merely incidental and of minor importance. Cur-
rency inflation might make for a larger amount of employment,
but in 1889, when industry had already recovered from the
preceding depression, the matter of employment was a minor
problem. The same might be said of the demand for reclaiming
the excess of land granted to the railroads with its expected
draining-off of the labour market. There remains only one
demand that might lead to a tangible benefit to labour, the
government ownership of railroads and telegraphs, which al-
though primarily designed to give the farmer cheaper rates,
might also considerably improve the condition of railroad labour.
We can fully understand this total absence of wage conscious-
ness on the part of the Knights of Labor only by taking ac-
count of the shift of membership, just mentioned, from the un-
skilled class in the large cities of the East to the class of me-
chanics and small merchants in the smaller cities and country
towns who depended upon the farmer for a living, and also
the gradual withdrawal of the nationally organised trades.
The year 1890 was eventful in the history of the farmers'
movement. The autumn election brought the first political suc-
cesses. Tillman was elected governor of South Carolina, and,
in Kansas, though the independent Alliance candidate for gov-
71 Ibid., 122.
KNIGHTS AND POLITICS 493
emor fell short of election by only 10,000 votes, the control of
the legislature was secured in both branches and a senator and
congressmen were elected, among them John H. Davis, a mem-
ber of the National Executive Board of the Knights of Labor.
Success also attended the political efforts in North Carolina
and Georgia, and somewhat less success in Nebraska and the
Dakotas.*^^ On the other hand, their lobbying activity in Con-
gress met with failure. The Fifty-first CongTcss paid scant
attention to the measures which the Alliance and the Knights
jointly introduced. The success in the election, coupled with
the failure in Congress, tended to strengthen the third-party
feeling. It grew particularly strong in the West, but was
comparatively weak in the South, where action through the
Democratic party was naturally preferred.
The General Assembly of the Knights of Labor in Novem-
ber, 1890, by a vote of 53 against 12, put itself upon record
in favour of an independent political party,''^^ and at the next
convention of the Alliance at Ocala, Elorida, in December,
1890, the General Executive Board, headed by Powderly, at-
tended in a body, and exerted an influence in this direction.
However, President Polk and the other leaders of the Alliance
did not desire to risk their stronsr oraranisatiou ^^ in the at-
tempt, but preferred to see the third party started under dif-
ferent auspices. To this effect a national Citizens' Alliance
was formed at the convention, with J. D. Holden, of Kansas,
president ; Balph Beaumont, of New York, secretary, and L. P.
Wild of Washington, treasurer. Beaumont was the head of
the lobbying committee of the Knights at Washington and
Wild was also a member of the Order.
The Citizens' Alliance and the Knights of Labor jointly
issued a call for a national political convention to meet in Cin-
cinnati in February, 1891, but, since the call was coolly re-
ceived by the Alliance, and the Knights of Labor also experi-
enced a change of heart, the convention was postponed until
May. Meanwhile, a general conference was held in Washing-
72 The organisations in Nebraska and 74 At Ocala, the Farmers' Mutual Bene-
the Dakotas had seceded from the Alliance fit Society, formed in 1883 and 150,000
in the Northwest and joined the Southern strong, joined the movement; also the col-
Alliance, cured farmers' alliance, with a member-
73 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1890, ship claiined to be 1,200,000.
p. 71.
4^94 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN" THE UNITED STATES
ton, January 21, 1891, as an attempt to form a permanent
confederation of all " industrial " organisations : the Alliance,
the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association, the Patrons of Hus-
bandry, the coloured Alliance, and the Knights of Labor.
Nothing tangible, however, resulted.
The political convention, which was originally called by the
Citizens' Alliance and the Knights of Labor met, in Cincinnati,
May 19, 1891, and resulted in the preliminary organisation
of the People's party. The Knights of Labor took little part
in the proceedings, Powderly being present, not in his official
capacity, but as a mere sympathiser. One-fourth of the dele-
gation was from Kansas alone, and more than three-fourths
were from the six States of Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Missouri, and I^ebraska. The East was entirely unrepresented.
A nominating national convention met July 4, 1892, at Omaha,
formulated a platform, and nominated General Weaver, of
Iowa, for president and General Field, of Virginia, for vice-
president. The subtreasury scheme formed the main plank
of the platform, which included also the other Alliance de-
mands. But in order to attract the labour vote, several strictly
labour planks were added: the restriction of undesirable im-
migration, the reduction of the hours of labour on government
work, and the condemnation of Pinkertons. The industrial
organisations, which met in Washington in January, 1891, in-
cluding the Knights of Labor, decided not to become the offi-
cial sponsors of the party, but their unofficial support remained
unequivocal.
At the General Assembly in IN'ovember, 1893, when its mem-
bership had fallen to 74,635, the national organisation of the
Knights took the final step away from the wage-earners' move-
ment. James R. Sovereign, a farmer editor from Iowa, suc-
ceeded through a temporary alliance with the socialist dele-
gates,"^^ in supplanting Powderly for the office of grand master
workman. In which direction the Order was steering under
Sovereign will appear from the following portion of his report
to the General Assembly of 1894: "^^
" The Order of the Knights of Labor is not so much intended to
75 See below, II, .519.
76 General Assembly, Proceedings, 1894, p. 1.
HOMESTEAD STRIKE 496
adjust the relationship between the employer and employe as to
adjust natural resources and productive facilities to the common
interests of the whole people, that all who wish may work for them-
selves, independent of large employing corporations and companies.
It is not founded on the question of adjusting wages, but on the
question of abolishing the wage-system and the establishment of a co-
operative industrial system. When its real mission is accomplished,
poverty will be reduced to a minimum and the land dotted over with
peaceful, happy homes. Then, and not till then, will the Order die.'*
REVERSES OF THE TRADE UNIONS
While the Knights of Labor, its membership dwindling and
its industrial strength a matter of the past, was resorting to
political action, the trade unions, at the height of their power
in 1891, persistently refused to follow their example.*^ '^ The
American Federation of Labor was at this period, more than
during any other, a purely economic organisation. Even in
the legislative lobbying of the Federation for labour measures,
these years were sterile. The only time when the Federation
seems to have been officially represented before a congressional
committee, was in 1888, through President Gompers."^* In
1890 a motion to maintain a permanent lobby in Washington
during the session of Congress was defeated.'^^ In lieu thereof
the convention of 1891 adopted instructions to the Executive
Council to send copies of all resolutions approved to every mem-
ber of Congress.*^
The political self-complacency of the trade unions came to
an abrupt end in 1892. The big and disastrous strikes in that
year of the iron and steel workers at Homestead, of the switch-
men in Buffalo, and of the miners in Tennessee and Coeur
d'Alene, proved to organised labour the overwhelming strength
of the employing class.
In the Homestead strike the labour movement faced for
the first time a really modem manufacturing corporation with
its practically boundless resources of war. The Amalgamated
Association of Iron and Steel Workers in 1891 with a mem-
bership of 24,068 was the strongest trade union in the entire
7T The attitude of the Federation was 78 Ibid., 1888, p. 12.
expressed by Gompers at the convention in 79 Ibid., 1890, p. 30.
1891. American Federation of Labor, 80 Ibid., 1891, p. 36.
Proceedings, 1891, p. 15.
496 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
history of the American labour movement. Prior to 1889 the
relations between the union and the Carnegie firm had been
invariably friendly. In January, 1889, H. C. Frick, who, as
owner of the largest coke manufacturing plant, had acquired
the reputation of a bitter opponent of organised labour, became
chairman of Carnegie Brothers & Company. In the same
year, owing to his assumption of management, as the union
men believed, the first dispute occurred between them and the
company. Although the agreement was finally renewed for
three years on terms dictated by the association, the controversy
left a disturbing impression upon the minds of the men, si^nce,
during the course of the negotiations, Frick had demanded the
dissolution of the union.
Negotiations for the new scale presented to the company be-
gan in February, 1892. A few weeks later the company pre-
sented a scale to the men providing for a reduction, and, be-
sides, demanding that the date of the termination of the scale
be changed from July 1 to January 1. A number of confer-
ences were held without result; and on May 30 the company
submitted an ultimatum to the effect that if the scale were
not signed by June 29, they would treat with the men as indi-
viduals. At a final conference which was held on June 23, the
company raised its offer from $22 per ton to $23 as the mini-
mum base of the scale, and the union lowered its demand from
$25, the rate formerly paid, to $24. But no agreement could
be reached on this point nor on others, and the strike began
June 29 upon the definite issue of the preservation of the
union.
Even before the negotiations were broken up, Frick had
arranged with the Pinkerton agency for 300 men to serve as
guards. These men arrived at a station on the Ohio River
below Pittsburgh near midnight of July 6. Here they em-
barked on barges and were towed up the river to Pittsburgh
and taken up the Monongahela River to Homestead, which
they approached about four o'clock on the morning of July 6.
The workmen had been warned of their coming, and, when
the boat reached the landing back of the steel works, nearly
the whole town was there to meet them and to prevent their
landing. Passion ran high. The men armed themselves with
OTHER DEFEATS 497
guns and gave the Pinkertons a pitched battle. When the day
was over, at least half a dozen men on both sides had been
killed and a number were seriously wounded. The Pinkertons
were defeated and driven away, and, although there was no
more disorder of any sort, the state militia appeared in Home-
stead on July 12 and remained for several months.
The strike which began in Homestead soon spread to other
mills. The Carnegie mills at 29th and 33d Streets, Pitts-
burgh, went out on strike in sympathy. Duquesne, non-union
from the beginning, was organised in July, and most of the
men came out on strike for a few weeks. Other mills in
Pittsburgh having no connection with the Carnegie Steel Com-
pany went on strike. The strike at Homestead was finally de-
clared off on I^ovember 20, and most of the men went back to
their old positions as non-union men. The treasury of the
union was depleted, winter was coming, and it Was finally de-
cided to consider the battle lost.
The defeat meant not only the loss by the union of the
Homestead plant but the elimination of unionism in most of
the mills in the Pittsburgh region. Where the great Carnegie
Company led, the others had to follow.^ ^ The power of the
union was henceforth broken and the labour movement learned
the lesson that even its strongest organisation was unable to
withstand an onslaught by the modern corporation.^^
July 11, the same day that the militia arrived at Home-
stead, a pitched battle was fought between the organised min-
ers of the Coeur d'Alene district of Idaho and the strike-break-
ers who came to take their places. The silver mine which was
the scene of this battle was the richest in the district and
was owned by a number of prominent eastern capitalists. The
continuous drop in the price of silver on the market caused the
management to make periodic reductions in the wages of the
miners, which finally culminated in a strike. The miners,
being well armed and having the advantage of numbers, after
a bloody fight seized the property and drove the strike-breakers
81 Fitch, " Unionism in the Iron and of 1892, since it demonstrated to wage-
Steel Industry," in Political Science Quar- earners that tariff protection was inade-
terly, 1909, XXIV, 71-78. quate to protect them in their rights. It
82 The Homestead strike proved to be a added, therefore, considerable vigour to
potent factor in the presidential campaign Cleveland's free trade campaign.
498 HISTORY OF LABOUR I]^ THE UNITED STATES
out of the district. In the course of the battle a large quartz
mill was destroyed by an explosion. The governor, his own
forces being utterly inadequate, called upon the President, and
on June 12 Federal troops were ordered to Coeur d'Alene, mar-
tial law was declared, and the strike came to an end.
The strike of the switchmen in the Buffalo railway yards
occurred on August 13. The legislature had shortly before
passed a ten-hour law for railway men, which contained, how-
ever, a sufficient loophole to enable the railways to render it
inoperative. Basing themselves upon this law, the switchmen
struck for a ten-hour day. At first the strikers had the upper
hand and succeeded in stopping completely the movement of
freight. The proximity of the November election made the
authorities reluctant to take energetic action. Finally, how-
ever, the railway officials prevailed upon the sheriff to apply to
the governor for troops, and, on August 18, several thousand
state troops arrived at Buffalo. Effective picketing being no
longer possible, the national officers of the switchmen's union
asked for a conference with the national officers of the brother-
hoods of engineers, firemen, conductors, and trainmen, to con-
sider the proposition of a sympathetic strike. But it came to
nothing, since Arthur, of the engineers, refused to appear, and
the other organisations, though willing to aid the switchmen,
could not decide to act without the engineers. On August 24,
the strike was consequently called off.
Simultaneously with the breaking out of the strike in Buf-
falo, the miners in Tracy City, Tennessee, seized the mines,
and, after an ineffectual resistance by the guards, set at lib-
erty 300 convicts who were working there under the leasing
system. The same was done two days later, on August 15,
in the iron mines of Inman, on August 17 in the coal mines
of Oliver Springs, and on August 18 in Coal Creek — in the
latter after a hard fight. The Tennessee miners were organ-
ised as Knights of Labor. Destructive competition from
cheap convict labour had for years been their chief grievance,
in addition to the more common miners' grievances centering
around the company store, the right to have a check weigh-
man, and the like. Trouble in acute form had started in Coal
Creek in April of the year before, when the miners armed
OTHER DEFEATS 499
themselves, drove the prisoners out of the mines, and escorted
them back to prison in Knoxville. The governor entered into
negotiations with the miners, and, upon his promise ^to call
a special session of the legislature to enact for the mines a
modification in the prison-labour system, they agreed to a
status quo and the convicts were allowed to return to the mines
pending the enactment of the new legislation. The governor
kept his promise, but the political influence of the convict-leas-
ing companies was sufficiently strong to defeat all action, and
the miners, having grown desperate, again took the matter into
their own hands and set free 1,500 prisoners in Coal Creek.
They were the more able to do so, as they took good care to
maintain friendly relations with the militia. This happened
in 1891.
During 1892 the militia was permanently stationed in the
mining districts, and friction with the miners had time to
arise. The operations which began with the liberation of the
prisoners in Tracy City, on August 13, were followed by a
serious war between the militia and the armed miners. In
several instances entire train loads of militia were taken cap-
tive and disarmed, but the final victory was with the militia.
The mines were retaken from the miners and the prisoners were
put back to work.^^
Each of the strikes of 1892 served as an instructive lesson
to the labour movement. The Homestead strike forcibly dem-
onstrated the unconquerable fighting strength of the modern
large corporation. Similarly, the strikes in Buffalo, Co&ur
d'Alene, and Tennessee showed the far-reaching control which
the employing class exercised over government, both state and
national.
Gompers, in his report to the Philadelphia convention of
the Federation in December, 1892, asked the question, " Shall
we change our methods ? " and answered it as follows :
" Many of our earnest friends in the labor movement . . . look
upon some of the recent defeats and predict the annihilation of the
economic effort of organised labor — or the impotency of the eco-
nomic organisations, the trade unions — to cope with the great
power of concentrated wealth. ... It is not true that the economic ef-
83 See contemporary account of the Zeit, 1891-1892, II, 740, 782 ; 1892-
•trikes during 1892, by Serge, in Neue 1893, I, 236, 270.
500 HISTORY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
fort has been a failure, nor that the usefulness of the economic or-
ganisation is at an end. It is true that in several instances they have
been defeated ; but though defeated, they are not conquered ; the very
fact that the monopolistic and capitalist class having assumed the
aggressive, and after defeating the toilers in several contests, the
wage-Avorkers of our country have maintained their organisations is
the best proof of the power, influence and permanency of the trade
unions. They have not been routed, they have merely retreated,
and await a better opportunity to obtain the improved conditions
which for the time they were deprived of. . . . What the toilers
need at this time is to answer the bitterness and vindictiveness of
the oppressors with Organisation." ^*
The events of 1892 stimulated the development of industrial
unionism, that is, the union of all crafts in an industry into
one organisation. It had been practised by the Knights of La-
bor, but since in the Order it was rather a step backward
from the official doctrine of the solidarity of all labour through
co-operative industry, it did not at that time attract the atten-
tion of the radical element in the movement. The brewers'
national union became an industrial union at the national con-
vention of 1887, when it extended the organisation to beer-
drivers, coopers, engineers, firemen, and malsters. The in-
dustrial form of the organisation had been of material aid to
the brewery workmen in their fourteen-year long boycott.®^
The unions of the coal miners during the eighties and nineties
also were in many localities industrial unions. It was not until
1898, however, that the United Mine Workers systematically
began to organise workmen in the industry who were not miners
or their helpers.
In 1893, following the Coeur d'Alene trouble, the several
unions in the metalliferous mining industry came together in
a convention and formed the Western Federation of Miners
as an industrial union. Similarly, after the switchmen's strike
in Buffalo, Eugene V. Debs, the secretary-treasurer of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, resigned his office and
devoted himself to an agitation in favour of a close federation
of all railway organisations. In June, 1893, he formed the
American Railway Union, an industrial union of all railway
84 American Federation of Labor, Pro- the Brewery Workers' Movement in Amer-
eeedinga, 1892, p. 12. tea, 219, 220. See also above, II, 488.
86 Schliiter, The Brewing Industry and
PULLMAN STRIKE 501
employes. In the following year it had 465 local lodges and
claimed a membership of 150,000.®^ The brotherhoods were
hostile to the new movement.
In the summer of 1893 the panic, which had been threat-
ening ever since the Baring failure in 1890, came. The panic
and the ensuing crisis may be regarded as the acid test which
conclusively proved the strength and stability of the American
labour movement. Gompers in his presidential report at the
convention of 1893, following the depression, said : ^' It
is noteworthy, that while in every previous industrial crisis the
trade unions were literally mowed down and swept out of ex-
istence, the unions now in existence have manifested, not only
the powers of resistance, but of stability and permanency," ®^
and he assigned as the most prominent cause the system of
high dues and benefits which had come into vogue in a large
number of trade unions. He said : " Beyond doubt the super-
ficial motive of continued membership in unions organised upon
this basis was the monetary benefits the members were entitled
to; but be that as it may, the results are the same, that is,
memhership is maintained, the organisation remains intact
during dull periods of industry, and is prepared to take advan-
tage of the first sign of an industrial revival." *^ Gompers
may have exaggerated the power of resistance of the unions,
but their holding power upon the membership cannot be dis-
puted : The aggregate membership of all unions afiiliated with
the Federation remained near the mark of 275,000 throughout
the period from 1893 to 1897.^^
TRADE UNIONS AND THE COURTS
The year 1894 was exceptional for labour disturbances.
The number of employes involved reached nearly 750,000, sur-
passing even the mark set in 1886. However, in contradis-
tinction to 1886, the movement was defensive. It also resulted
in greater failure. The strike of the coal miners and the
Pullman strike were the most important ones. The United
Mine Workers began their strike in Ohio on April 21. The
86 Report on the Chicago strike of June 87 American Federation of Labor, Pro-
and July, 1894; see United States Strike ceedings, 1893, p. 12.
Commission, Report, 1895, p. 130. 88 Ibid.
80 Ibid., 1912, p. 81.
502 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
membership did not exceed 20,000, but about 125,000 struck.
At first the demand was made that wages should be restored to
the level at which they were in May, 1893. But within a
month the union in most regions was struggling to prevent a
further reduction in wages. By the end of July, the strike
was lost.
The Pullman strike began May 11, 1894, and grew out of a
demand of certain employes in the shops of the Pullman Pal-
ace Car Company, situated at Pullman, Illinois, for a restora-
tion of the wages paid during the previous year. In March,
1894, the Pullman employes had voted to join the American
Railway Union. Between June 9 and June 26 the latter held
a convention in Chicago. The Pullman matter was publicly
discussed before and after its committee reported their inter-
views with the Pullman Company. On June 21, the delegates
under instructions from their local unions, feeling confident
after a victory over the Great Northern in April, unanimously
voted that the members should stop handling Pullman cars
on June 26 unless the Pullman Company would consent to
arbitration. On June 26 the railway strike began. It was a
purely sympathetic strike as no demands were made. The
union found itself pitted against the general managers' asso-
ciation, representing twenty-four roads centring or terminating
in Chicago, which were bound by contracts with the Pullman
Company. The association had been organised in 1886, its
main business being to determine a common policy as to traffic
and freight rates, but incidentally it dealt also with wages.
The strike soon spread over an enormous territory. Many of
the members of the brotherhoods joined in, although their or-
ganisations were opposed to the strike. The lawless element
in Chicago took advantage of the opportunity to rob, burn, and
plunder, so that the scenes of the great railway strike of 1877
were now repeated. The damages in losses of property and
business to the country have been estimated at $80,000,000.
On July 7, E. V. Debs, president, and other principal offi-
cers of the American Railway Union were indicted, arrested,
and held under $10,000 bail. On July 13 they were attacked
for contempt of the United States court in disobeying an in-
junction which enjoined them, together with other things, from
PULLMAN STRIKE ,503
compelling, or by threats, inducing railway employes to strike.
The strike had already been weakening for some days. On
July 12, at the request of the American Railway Union, about
twenty-five of the executive officers of national and international
labor unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor
met in conference in Chicago to discuss the situation. Debs
appeared and urged a general strike by all labour organisations.
But the conference decided that " it would be unwise and dis-
astrous to the interests of labor to extend the strike any
further than it had already gone,'' ^'^ and, advised the strikers
to return to work. On July 13, the American Railway Union,
through the mayor of Chicago, offered the general managers' as-
sociation to declare the strike off, provided the men should be
restored to their former positions without prejudice, except in
cases where they had been convicted of crime. But the asso-
ciation refused to deal with the union. The strike was already
virtually beaten by the combined moral effect of the indict-
ment of the leaders and of the arrival in Chicago of United
States troops which President Cleveland sent in spite of the
protest of Governor Altgeld of Illinois.^ ^
The labour organisations were taught two important lessons.
First, that nothing can be gained through revolutionary strik-
ing, for the government was sufficiently strong to cope with it ;
and second, that the employers had obtained a formidable ally
in the courts.
The bitterness of the industrial struggle during the eighties
made it inevitable that the labour movement should acquire an
extensive police and court record. It was during that decade
that charges like '^ inciting to riot," " obstructing the streets,"
" intimidation," and " trespass " were first extensively used in
connection with labour disputes. Convictions were frequent
and penalties often severe. What attitude the courts at that
time took towards labour violence was shown most strikingly,
even if in too extreme a form to be entirely typical, in the case
of the Chicago anarchists.
In addition to arrests and punishment for violence and riot-
ing, which were, • after all, nothing but ordinary police cases
90 Gompers, " Report," in American 91 United States Strike Commission,
Federation of Labor, Proceedings, 1894, Report (on the Chicago strike of June
p. 12. and July, 1894).
504 HISTORY OF LABOTTE IN THE UmTED STATES
magnified to an unusual degree by the intensity of the indus-
trial struggle and the excited state of public opinion, the courts
gave a new lease of life to the doctrine of conspiracy as affect-
ing labour disputes. ^^ During the eighties there seem to have
been more conspiracy cases than during all the rest of the
century. It was especially in 1886 and 1887 that organised
labour found court interference a factor. At this time there
was also passed voluminous state legislation strengthening the
application of the common law doctrine of conspiracy to labour
disputes. The conviction of the l^ew York boycotters in
1886 ^^ and many similar, though less widely known, convic-
tions of participants in strikes and boycotts, were obtained
upon this ground. Yet this novel use made of the doctrine of
conspiracy was not necessarily as complete a revolution in the
heretofore prevailing practice as is commonly supposed. In
reality the much heralded case of Commonwealth v. Hunt, de-
cided by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in 1842,
had never been wholly accepted. True, that a part of the
decision which affirmed that a trade union was legal per se was
not questioned, but in so far as the decision legalised the closed
shop and aimed to free the trade union of the charge of con-
spiracy regardless of the means used. Commonwealth v. Hunt
remained, as a matter of fact, an isolated case.^*
Where the eighties actually witnessed a revolution in the
doctrine of conspiracy was in the totally new use made of it
by the courts when they began to issue injunctions in labour
cases. Injunctions were an old remedy, but not until the
eighties did they figure in the struggles between labour and
capital. In England an injunction was issued in a labour dis-
pute as early as 1868; ^^ but this case was not noticed in the
United States, and had nothing whatever to do with the use of
injunctions in this country. When and where the first labour
injunction was issued in the United States is not known. An
injunction was applied for in a 'New York case as early as 1880,
but was denied.^® An injunction was granted in Iowa in
92 The following account of legal doc- 84 See above, I, 441, 442.
trines is largely taken from a monograph 95 Springhead Spinning Co. v. Riley,
in preparation by Edwin E. Witte on The L. R. 6E. 551 (1868).
Courts in Labor Disputes. 96 Johnson Harvester Co. v. Meinhardt,
»8 See above, II, 445. 60 How. Pr. 171.
THE INJUNCTION 505
1884,''^ but not until the Southwest railway strike in 1886
were injunctions used extensively.^® By 1890 the public had
yet heard little of injunctions in connection with labour dis-
putes, but such use was already fortified by numerous prece-
dents.
The first injunctions that attained wide publicity were those
issued by Federal courts during the strike of engineers against
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, '^^ in 1888, and
during the railway strikes of the early nineties. Justification
for these injunctions was found in the provisions of the Inter-
state Commerce Act and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Often
the state courts used these Federal cases as precedents, in dis-
regard of the fact that there the issuance of injunctions was
based upon special statutes. In other cases the more logical
course was followed of justifying the issuance of injunctions
upon grounds of equity. But most of the acts which the courts
enjoined strikers from doing were already prohibited by the
criminal laws. Hence organised labour objected that these in-
junctions violated the old principle that equity will not inter-
fere to prevent crime. No such difiiculties arose when the
issuance of injunctions was justified as a measure for the pro-
tection of property. In the Debs case,^ when the Supreme
Court of the United States passed upon the issuance of injunc-
tions in labour disputes, it had recourse to this theory.
But the theory of protection to property also presented
some difiiculties. The problem was to establish the principle
of irreparable injury to the complainant's property. This was
a simple matter y^hen the strikers were guilty of trespass, arson,
or sabotage. Then they damaged the complainant's physical
property, and since they were usually men against whom judg-
ments are worthless, any injury they might do was irreparable.
But these were exceptional cases. Usually injunctions were
sought to prevent not violence, but strikes, picketing, or boy-
cotting. What is threatened by strikes and picketing is not
97 Keystone Coal Co. v. Davis, Circuit of 1886 on the Southwestern Railroad Sys-
Court, Boone County, Iowa (Dec. 8, tem," in Missouri Bureau of Labor, Re-
1884). Text given in the Iowa Bureau port, 1886. p. 34.
of Labor, Report, 1885, p. 155. Pow- 39 Chicago, Burlington, etc., R. R. Co.
derly, Thirty Years of Labor, 442, 443, v. Union Pacific R. R. Co., U. S. Dist.
states that injunctions were issued in 1888 Ct., D. Neb. (1888).
at Kent, Ohio, and at Baltimore. i In re Debs, 158 U. S. 564 (1895).
98 " Official History of the Great Strike
506 HISTORY OF LABOLTR m THE UNITED STATES
the employer's physical property, but the relations he has estab-
lished as an employer of labour, summed up in his expectancy
of retaining the services of old employes and of obtaining new
ones. Boycotting, obviously, has no connection with acts of
violence against physical property, but is designed merely to
undermine the profitable relations which the employer has de-
veloped with his customers. These expectancies are advan-
tages enjoyed by established businesses over new competitors,
and are usually transferable and have market value. For these
reasons they are now recognised as property in the law of good
will and unfair competition for customers, having been first
formulated about the middle of the nineteenth century.
The first case which recognised these expectancies of a labour
market was Walker v. Cronin,^ decided by the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court in 1871. It held that the plaintiff
was entitled to recover damages from the defendants, certain
union officials, because they had induced his employes, who
were free to quit at will, to leave his employment, and had also
been instrumental in preventing him from getting new em-
ployes. But as yet these expectancies were not considered
property in the full sense of the word. A transitional case is
that of Brace Bros. v. Evans in 1888.^ In that case an in-
junction against a boycott was justified on the ground that the
value of the complainant's physical property was being de-
stroyed when the market was cut off. Here the expectancies
based upon relations with customers and employes were thought
of as giving value to the physical property, but they were not
yet recognised as a distinct asset which in itself justifies the
issuance of injunctions.
This next step was taken in the Barr^ case in 'New Jersey
in 1893. Since then there have been frequent statements in
labour injunction cases to the effect that both the expectancies
based upon the merchant-function and the expectancies based
upon the employer-function are property.^
2 107 Mass. 555 (1871). (1904); Purvis v. Carpenters, 214 Pa.
3 5 Pa. Co. Ct. 163 (1888). St. 348, 63 Atl. 585 (1906); Sailors'
4 Barr v. Trades' Council, 53 N. J. E. Union v. Hammond Lumber Co., 156 Fed.
101, 30 Atl. 881 (1894). 450 (1908); Buck's Stove and Range Co.
5 Eureka Foundry Co. v. Lehker, 13 v. A. P. of L., 36 Wash. L. Rep. 882
Ohio N. P. 898 (1902); Underhill v. (1908); Newton Co. v. Erickson, 126 N.
Murphy, 117 Ky. 640, 78 S. W. 482 Y. Supp. 949 (1911).
THE INJUNCTION 507
But the recognition of '' probable expectancies " as property
was not in itself sufficient to complete the chain of reasoning
that justifies injunctions in labour disputes. It is well estab-
lished that no recovery can be had for losses due to the exer-
cise by others of that which they have a lawful right to do.
Hence the employers were obliged to charge that the strikes
and boycotts were undertaken in pursuance of an unlawful
conspiracy. Thus the old conspiracy doctrine was combined
with the new theory, and " malicious " interference with ^' prob-
able expectancies " was held unlawful. Earlier conspiracy had
been thought of as a criminal offence, now it was primarily a
civil wrong. The emphasis had been upon the danger to the
public, now it was the destruction of the employers' business.
Occasionally the court went so far as to say that all interference
with the business of employers is unlawful. The better view
developed was that interference is prima facie unlawful, but
may be justified. But even this view placed the burden of
proof upon the workingmen. It actually meant that the court
held the conduct of the working-men to be lawful only when it
sympathised with their demands.
During the eighties, despite the far-reaching development of
legal theories on labour disputes, the issuance of injunctions
was merely sporadic, but a veritable crop came up during
1893-1894. Only the best-known injunctions can be here
noted. The injunctions issued in the course of the Southwest
railway strike in 1886 and the Burlington strike in 1888 have
already received mention. An injunction was also issued by
a Federal court during the miners' strike at Coeur d'Alene,
Idaho, in 1892.^ A famous injunction was the one of Judges
Taft and Ricks in 1893, which directed the engineers who
were employed by connecting railways to handle the cars of
the Ann Arbor and Michigan railway, whose engineers were
on strike."^ This order elicited much criticism because it came
close to requiring men to work against their wall. This was
followed by the injunction of Judge Jenkins in the Northern
Pacific case, which directly prohibited the quitting of work.®
6 CcBur d'Alene Mining Co. v. Miners* 8 Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. v. N. P.
Union, 51 Fed. 260 (1892). R. Co., 60 Fed. 803 (1894).
7 Toledo, etc., Co. v. Pennsylvania Co.,
54 Fed. 730 (1893).
608 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
From this injunction the defendants took an appeal, with the
result that in Arthur v. Oakes ^ it was once for all established
that the quitting of work may not be enjoined.
During the Pullman strike numerous injunctions, most
sweeping in character, were issued by the Federal courts, upon
the initiative of the Department of Justice. ^^ Under the in-
junction which was issued in Chicago arose the famous con-
tempt case against Eugene V. Debs, which was carried to the
Supreme Court of the United States. The decision of the
court in this case ^^ is notable, because it covered the main
points of doubt above mentioned and placed the use of injunc-
tions in labour disputes upon a firm legal basis.
Another famous decision of the Supreme Court growing out
of the railway strikes of the early nineties was in the Lennon
case ^^ in 1897. Therein the court held that all persons who
have actual notice of the issuance of an injunction are bound
to obey its terms, although the order may not be especially di-
rected to them nor served upon them. Thus was sanctioned
the so-called " blanket injunction."
During the eighties there was much new legislation applicable
to labour disputes. The first laws against boycotting and black-
listing, and the first laws which prohibited discrimination
against members who belonged to a union, were passed during
this decade. At this time also were passed the first laws to
promote voluntary arbitration, and most of the laws which allow
unions to incorporate. Only in New York and Maryland were
the conspiracy laws repealed. Four States enacted such laws
and many States passed laws against intimidation.^^ Statutes,
however, played at that time, as they do now, but a secondary
role. The only statute which proved of much importance was
the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. When Congress passed this act
in 1890, few people thought it had application to labour unions.
0 63 Fed. 310 (1894). 11 In re Debs, 158 U. S. 564 (1895).
10 So. Cal. Ry. Co. v. Rutherford, 62 12 In re Lennon, 166 U. S. 548 (1897).
Fed. 796 (1894); U. S. v. Elliott et al., 13 Nearly all of the laws passed since
62 Fed. 801 (1894) ; Thomas v. Cincin- 1880, which relate to the doctrines of con-
nati N. O. & T. P. R. Co. — In re Phelan, spiracy in industrial disputes, are still in
62 Fed. 803 (1894); U. S. v. Alger, 62 force. For a summary of the laws, see
Fed. 824 (1894) ; U. S. v. Debs, 64 Fed. " Strikes and Lockouts," in Commissioner
724(1894). The newspapers of the time of Labor, Third Annual Report, 1887,
show that injunctions like these were is- 1146-1164; and "Strikes and Lockouts,"
sued by the Federal courts in all districts in Sixteenth Annual Report, 1901, 986-
affected by the strike. 1036.
POLITICAL PROGRAMME 509
In 1893-1894, however this act was successfully invoked in
several labour controversies, notably in the Debs case.^*
THE LATEST ATTEMPT TOWARD A LABOUR PARTY
Defeats in strikes, depression in trade, a rapidly falling la-
bour market, and court prosecutions were powerful allies of
those socialistic and radical leaders inside the Federation who
aspired to convert it from a mere economic organisation into
an economic political one and to make it embark upon the sea
of independent politics.
A change of position upon the question of politics was fore-
shadowed in the resolutions adopted by the convention of the
Federation in 1892. Two of the leading planks of the Popu-
list platform — the initiative and referendum and government
ownership of the telegraph and telephone system — were in-
dorsed. ^^ Even more significant was the instruction given to
the Executive Council, " to use their best endeavour to carry
on a vigorous campaign of education by appointing organisers,
lecturers, and supplying economic literature to affiliated or-
ganisations in order to widen the scope of usefulness of the trade
unions in the direction of political action. But," the resolu-
tion continued, " we wish the distinction to be made that parti-
san politics should not be confounded with the business of the
trade unions." ^^
The convention of 1893 is memorable in that it submitted
to the consideration of affiliated unions a ^^ political pro-
gramme." ^^ The preamble to the programme recited that the
English trade unions had recently launched upon independent
politics ^^ as auxiliary to their economic action." The eleven
planks of the programme demanded : compulsory education ;
the initiative; a legal eight-hour work-day; governmental in-
spection of mines and workshops; abolition of the sweating
system ; employers' liability laws ; abolition of the contract sys-
tem upon public work; municipal ownership of electric light,
14 U. S. 17. Workmen's Council, 54 Fed. (1894) ; In re Grand Jury, 62 Fed. 840
994, 57 Fed. 85 (1893); Waterhouse v. (1894).
Comer, 55 Fed. 149 (1893); Toledo, etc., 15 American Federation of Labor, Pro-
R. R. Co. V. Pennsylvania R. R. Co., 54 ceedings, 1892, p. 43.
Fed. 730 (1893) ; U. S. v. Alger, 62 Fed. 16 Ihid.
824 (1894); U. S. v. Debs, 64 Fed, 734 17 Jbid., 1892, 36.
510 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
gas, street railway, and water systems; the nationalisation of
telegraphs, telephones, railroads, and mines ; " the collective
ownership by the people of all means of production and dis-
tribution " ; and the referendum upon all legislation.
The programme was submitted by Thomas J. Morgan, a so-
cialist from Chicago, representing the International Machinists'
Union, and received a more than passive support from Gom-
pers ^^ and P. J. McGuire.^^ Only one real test vote upon the
political programme was had in this convention. It came upon
a motion to strike out the recommendation to affiliated unions
to give the programme their " favourable consideration." The
vote against the recommendation was 1,253 to 1,182. McGuire
voted with the majority and Gompers refrained from voting.
Very strangely, the conservative typographical union voted sol-
idly to recommend " favorable consideration." With this
recommendation stricken out, the submission of the programme
was carried by the overwhelming vote of 2,244 to 67.
Several other resolutions adopted by the convention of 1893
are of significance in this connection. One of these instructed
the Executive Council to bring about an alliance with the farm-
ers' organisations " to the end that the best interests of all may
be served." -*^ Another resolution renewed the demand for the
nationalisation of the telegraph system.^^ Finally there was a
declaration in favour of the free coinage of silver as ^^ one of
the means of relieving the present monetary stringency, and
of a return to national prosperity." ^^ The Federation had been
officially represented at the bi-metallic convention in Chicago
during the summer, although there had been no previous en-
dorsement of bi-metallism.^'"^
Immediately after the convention of 1893 affiliated unions
began to give their endorsement to the political programme.
18 He said in the presidential address: 19 McGuire favoured an alliance with
". . . An intelligent use of the ballot by the People's party. To him the existing
the toilers in their own interest must depression and the demonetisation of sil-
largely contribute to lighten the burthens ver were but parts of a great conspiracy
of our economic struggles. Let us elect " to bring American labor to the pauper-
men from the ranks of labor to represent ised condition of the workers of foreign
us in Congress and the Legislatures when- lands." Carpenter, August, 1893.
ever and wherever the opportunity pre- 20 American Federation of Labor, Pre-
sents itself. Let us never be recreant to reedings, 1893, 37.
our trust, and, regardless of political affili- 21 Ibid., 34.
ations or predilections, always vote against 22 Ibid,, 60.
those who are inimical to the interests of 23 Cleveland Citizen, Aug. 12, 1893.
labor." Ibid., 1893, p. 12.
POLITICAL PEOGRAMME 511
"Not until comparatively late did any opposition make itself
manifest. Then it took the form of a demand by such con-
servative leaders as Gompers, McGuire, and Strasser, that plank
10, with its pledge in favour of "the collective ownership by
the people of all means of production and distribution," be
stricken out. Only the bakers' union seems to have rejected
the programme in its entirety. The typographical union and
the web-weavers' union voted to strike out plank 10. The car-
penters approved plank 10, but with the amendment, " as the
people elect to operate." Only a partial list can be given of
the unions which unconditionally endorsed the political pro-
gramme. The list includes the United Mine Workers, iron
and steel workers, lasters, tailors, wood workers, flint glass-
workers, brewery workmen, painters, furniture workers, street-
railway employes, waiters, shoe workers, textile workers, mule
spinners, machinists, and the German-American typographical
union. The cigar makers' union by a referendum vote approved
every plank of the political programme, but the result of the
vote was not given out until after the convention of the Federa-
tion. The programme was approved, also, by the state federa-
tions of labour in Maine, Rhode Island, ISTew York, Ohio,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, I^ebraska,
and Montana. It also had the endorsement of city centrals in
Baltimore, 'New Haven, Cleveland, Toledo, Lansing, Saginaw,
Grand Rapids, and Milwaukee.
During 1894 the trade unions were active participants in
politics. Of course, the Federation, pending the referendum
on the programme, refrained from partisan politics and con-
fined itself to agitation and lobbying for favoured measures.
But many of these were clearly different from such strictly
trade union legislative measures, as shorter hours, restricting
immigration, or granting freedom from legal prosecution to
trade unions. Thus in the summer the Executive Council, in
co-operation with the Bi-Metallic League, issued a number of
circulars on behalf of the free coinage of silver. ^^ It also lob-
bied actively on behalf of the bill providing for the nationalisa-
tion of the telegraph and the telephone system. On the other
hand, the representatives of the Federation in the peace confer^
24 American Federation of Labor, Proeeedingt, 1894, p. 14,
512 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN" THE UNITED STATES
ence with the Knights of Labor of the summer of 1894 declined
to go upon record as favouring an endorsement of the People's
party, on the ground that their instructions did not cover this
point. ^^
Locally, however, the trade unions were unequivocally in poli-
tics. A very large number of members were candidates for
office. A majority of them ran upon the People's party, or
" Populist " ticket. In many localities the trade unions virtu-
ally were part of the Populist party machinery. In N"ovember,
1894, the Federationist gave a list of more than 300 union
members, candidates for some elective office. ^^. Only a half
dozen of these, however, were elected.
It was mainly to these local failures that Gompers pointed in
his presidential address at the convention of 1894 as an argu-
ment against the adoption of the political programme by the
Federation. ^"^ His attitude clearly foreshadowed the destiny
of the programme at the convention. The first attack was made
upon the preamble, upon the ground that the statement therein
that the English trade unions had declared for independent
political action was false. By a vote of 1,345 to 861 the con-
vention struck out the preamble. The real fight, however, was
over plank 10, endorsing socialism. Upon motion of the typo-
graphical union, a substitute was adopted, calling for the ^^ abo-
lition of the monopoly system of land holding and the sub-
stitution therefor a title of occupancy and use only." ^®
Some of the delegates seem to have interpreted this substitute
as a declaration for the single tax; but the majority of those
who voted in its favour probably acted upon the principle, " any-
thing to beat socialism." The delegates of the painters, and
part of the representatives of the mine workers, the iron and
steel workers, the tailors, and the lasters, voted for the substitute,
although their unions had endorsed the entire political pro-
gramme. Upon the rejection of the preamble all but one of the
25 American Federationist, 1894, I, ment more or less divided and disrupted.
262, 267. What the results -would be if such a moTe-
26 Ibid., 205. ment were inaugurated under the auspi-
27 '• During the past year the trade ces of the American Federation of Labor,
unions in many localities plunged into the involving it and all our affiliated organi-
political arena by nominating their candi- sations, is too portentous for contempla-
dates for public office, and sad as it may tion." American Federation pf Labor,
be to record, it is nevertheless true, that Proceedings, 1894, p. 15,
in each of these localities politically they 2a Ibid., 38-43.
were defeated and the trade-union move-
POLITICAL PROGRAMME 518
cigar makers^ delegates voted with the majority, explaining
their vote upon the groirnd that their instruction covered only
the *^ platform/' but not the ^^ preamble." -® None of the
other ten planks of the programme was materially altered, ex-
cept that a declaration in favour of the repeal of conspiracy
laws was added. A motion to endorse the amended platform
as a whole, however, was voted down, T35 to 1,173. With the
majority were a large number of delegates who had supported
plank 10, including the entire delegations of the moulders, car-
penters, painters (one faction), bakers, and 'longshoremen, and
one delegate each of the lasters and of the mine workers. The
convention, however, once more placed the Federation upon
record as favouring the free coinage of silver.^^ This action
was taken in spite of the refusal of the convention of the typo-
graphical union a few months before to endorse free coinage.^ ^
In revenge, the defeated socialists combined with the supporters
of McBride of the mine workers and elected him president in-
stead of Gompers. The headquarters of the Federation were
moved from Washington to Indianapolis.
Immediately after the adjournment of the convention of
1894, a hot dispute arose as to whether the amended political
programme had been adopted, when each plank in turn had been
approved. President McBride stated in his report that the
convention had adopted the programme. The convention of
1895, however, voted to construe the action of the preceding
year as a rejection of the entire programme.^ ^ ISText it voted
to treat the " platform " as embodying the " legislative de-
mands " of the Federation. Under the caption ^' Legislative
Platform," the amended ^' platform " was printed for several
years thereafter in every number of the American Federationist.
In the convention of 1895 a resolution, presented by a so-
cialist, came up. It declared that it was the duty of the trade
unions to organise an independent labour party. In lieu
thereof, the convention by a vote of 1,460 to 158, adopted a
resolution : " That it is clearly the duty of union workingmen
to use their franchise so as to protect and advance the class in-
terests of the men and women of labor and their children.
2» Holyoke Labor, Dec. 29, 1894. 3i Cleveland Citizen, Oct. 20, 1894.
so American Federation of Labor, Pro- 32 American Federation of Labor, Pro-
ceedings, 1894, p. 29. ceedinga, 1895, pp. 80-82.
514 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
That the interests of the workers as a class is of paramount im-
portance to party interests. That the class interests of labour
demand labour measures in preference to party measures, and,
we, therefore, recommend to the workers more independent
voting outside of party lines.'' ^^
The American Federation of Labor was once more almost
drawn into the whirlpool of partisan politics during the presi-
dential campaign of 1896. Three successive conventions had
declared in favour of the free coinage of silver; and now the
Democratic party had come out for free coinage. In this situa-
tion very many prominent trade union leaders declared pub-
licly for Bryan. President Gompers, however, issued a warn-
ing to all affiliated unions to keep out of partisan politics.^*
Notwithstanding this, Secretary McGraith at the next conven-
tion of the Federation, charged President Gompers with acting
in collusion with the Democratic headquarters throughout the
campaign in aid of Bryan's candidacy.^^ After a lengthy se-
cret session, the convention approved the conduct of Gompers.^®
Free silver continued to be endorsed annually down to the
convention of 1898, when the return of industrial prosperity
and rising prices put an end to it as a demand advocated by
labour.^''^ The failure to direct the labour movement into a
labour party gave proof of the strength achieved by the trade
union movement. Henceforth the demand for a labour party
was confined to the socialists.
SOCIALISTS AND LABOUR ORGANISATIONS, 1888-1896
The socialists viewed their participation in the labour parties
of 1886-1888 primarily as a means of winning the trade unions
to socialism. Failing in this, they reacted against trade unions
in general. It is true that the New Yorker Volkszeitung and a
majority of the German section in New York now favoured a
33 Ibid., 96. take his seat. Ibid., 35-40.
3i HoUister'a Eight-Hour Herald (Ohi- 37 As might be expected, the free silver
cago), Oct. 20, 1896. demand had caused a great amount of
35 Ibid., Jan. 12, 1897. dissatisfaction within the Federation. For
36 American Federation of Labor, Pro- instance, the Bakers' Journal, edited by
ceedings, 1896, pp. 59-61. A similar Weissman, a supporter of McKinley, de-
case came up involving William 0. Pome- clared after the convention of 1896 that
roy, a prominent Chicago trade union free coinage " promises to become the rock
leader, who was accused of having used upon which the ship of trade unionism
his official position in McKinley's interest. may wreck." Quoted in HoUister't
The convention refused to allow him to Eight-Hour Herald, Jan. 12, 1897.
SOCIALISM ' ^ 515
still closer identification with the trade union movement and
even the complete abandonment of political action by the So-
cialist Labor party for the present. But the opposite faction
was now in the saddle. V. L. Rosenberg, editor of the official
party organ, deplored the fact that too much energy was spent
on trade unions to the detriment of the agitation for social-
ism,^® and the general meeting of the section in 'New York de-
cided, though by a narrow majority, to enter the campaign of
1888 under socialist colours undisguised. The turning of the
scale in favour of the political faction was due mainly to the
English-speaking members.^ ^ However, the ascendency of
Rosenberg and the political faction was short-lived. The small
socialist vote cast in the election (2,580 in New York City),
coming, as it did, after the heavy labour vote of the preceding
years, proved a decided disappointment. At the same time,
the step of the American Federation of Labor in starting the
eight-hour movement in 1888 helped to revive the spirits of
the " trade-union " faction. The latter was now in position to
justify alliance with the trade unions by pointing to the ag-
gressive tactics of the Federation. The disappointing outcome
of the municipal elections in the spring of 1889^^ added still
further to the strength of the Volkszeitung and the trade union
faction.
Still, the National Executive Committee persisted in its op-
position toward trade unions. Der Sozialist, though giving
general approval to the eight-hour movement, hedged it around
with so many qualifications that the sincere trade unionists in
the socialist ranks were bound to revolt.
On September 10, 1889, the general section of New York
held a meeting and by a practically unanimous vote recalled
Rosenberg and a majority of the iJsTational Executive Commit-
tee, electing Sergius Schevitsch and others in their places.
This move was of doubtful legality. However that may be, a
large majority of the party acquiesced in the l^ew York revolu-
tion and the trade union faction again found itself at the helm.
The national convention held on October 12 in Chicago legal-
ised the New York cowp d'etat. It promised to co-operate in
88 Der Sozialiat, Apr. 28, 1888. in Milwaukee, and 104 in Jersey City.
Z^Ihid., Sept. 29, 1888. Der Sozialist, Apr. 13, 1889,
40 The vote was 167 in Chicago, 420
616 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
organising trade unions in case the unions resolved to form a
labour party, and it granted unqualified and enthusiastic en-
dorsement to the eight-hour movement. The platform as well
as the constitution were overhauled. The preamble was en-
tirely rewritten by Lucien Sanial and remodelled after the Dec-
laration of Independence. The Lassallean demand for state
credit to co-operative associations was struck out.
Only a small number of sections remained loyal to Rosen-
berg. Their convention met on October 2, decided for vigor-
ous and immediate political action, revoked the clause in the
constitution, which demanded that at least two-thirde of the
members of each section should be wage-earners, and passed by
in complete silence the subject of trade unions. The section
in Cincinnati was the leading one of this faction and, for this
reason, the organisation was known as the Socialist Labor
party of the " Cincinnati persuasion." It continued down to
1897, when it amalgamated with the Debs-Berger Social De-
mocracy of America.
The regular Socialist Labor party, of which the trade union
faction was now in undisputed control, abstained from any
participation at the state election in New York in the fall of
1889, for the reason that the trade unions were still unprepared
for political action. The relations with the Federation of La-
bor were extremely friendly, and, in March 1890, the Execu-
tive Council of the Federation appointed the well-known so-
cialist, Paul Grottkau, traveling agitator for the eight-hour
movement, along with George E. McNeill.
In N^ew York City the socialists were unable to keep on
friendly terms with the old established central body of trade
unions, the Central Labor Union, which became famous dur-
ing the George campaign. The latter had, during 1888, fallen
under the influence of the Knights of Labor and the conserva-
tive trade unions, and, as the socialists charged, of corrupt
politicians also. The socialists had therefore organised the
Central Labor Federation in February, 1889, which received
a charter from the American Federation of Labor. In De-
cember, 1889, the Central Labor Federation effected a rec-
onciliation with the Central Labor Union and fused with
it. However, the lukewarmness of the Central Labor
SOCIALISTS AND LABOUR 517
Union toward the eight-hour movement and principally
the suspicion of political corruption drove the socialists
for a second time to secession, and in June, 1890, they
resurrected the Central Labor Federation. Soon the so-
cialists v^ere given cause to doubt the friendship of the
American Federation of Labor, for it refused a charter to
the Central Labor Federation on the ground that it had af-
filiated with itself besides thirty-eight trade unions, also the
section of the Socialist Labor party. The matter was thor-
oughly threshed out in a nine-hour debate at the convention of
the Federation at Detroit in December, 1890. The outcome
was that Lucien Sanial, who held credentials from the Central
Labor Federation, was refused a seat. Ultimately, the So-
cialist Labor party withdrew from the central labour bodies
in the sixteen cities *^ in which it had hitherto been represented.
The socialists felt disappointed, but still maintained their
hope of winning over the American Federation of Labor to
socialism. In 1891, however, Weissman, of the bakers' union,
with encouragement from Gompers, organised the Federation
of Labor of E'ew York, which purported to be free from any
political influence, socialist as well as any other. This placed
a third central body alongside the Central Labor Union and
the Central Labor Federation. In 1892, after lengthy ne-
gotiations between the three bodies, the Central Labor Union
and the Federation of Labor amalgamated, but the socialistic
Central Labor Federation decided to remain independent.
The conflict considerably cooled the hopes of the socialists
for an easy conquest of the American Federation of Labor.
However, the mild methods were not replaced by more ag-
gressive ones until the control of the party had solidified in the
hands of Daniel De Leon,*^ about 1892. Under De Leon's
leadership the party adopted more vigorous tactics. In 1892
41 Baltimore, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cleve- studied law at the Columbia Law Scho(d,
land, Dayton, Detroit, Evansville (Ind.), and subsequently became a lecturer on
Hudson County, Paterson, New Haven, diplomacy at the Columbia University.
New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, He was active in the Henry George cam-
Providence, Sandusky, and Sheboygan paign of 1886, joined the Knights of La-
(Wis.). In practically every case these bor in 1888, and became interested in
were organisations of German trade un- nationalism in 1889. In 1890 he joined
ions, the Socialist Labor party and founded
42 De Leon was born in Curacao, Dutch the weekly People in 1892. He died in
West Indies, in 1852. He came to the 1915.
United States from Europe in 1872,
518 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
it nominated for the first time a presidential ticket. The can-
didates were Simon Wing, a photographer of Boston and an
old abolitionist; and Charles Matchett, a New York telephone
mechanician, prominent among the Knights of Labor. Both
were recent recruits to the Socialist Labor party. The ticket
polled 21,157 votes, of which 18,147 were cast in the state of
New York, including 6,100 in New York City. With regard
to labour organisation the policy was still more aggressive. At
the national convention in July, 1893, the opinion was gener-
ally shared that it was sheer utopianism to look for a natural
transformation of the American Federation of Labor into a
labour party. In order that the latter might come into exist-
ence, energetic action on the part of the socialists was required.
Energetic measures were, however, first tried on the Knights
of Labor, and the instrument was the United Hebrew Trades.
The United Hebrew Trades ^^ had been organised in 1888
as the central body of the Jewish trade unions in New York.
There had existed from 1884 to 1887 a Jewish Workmen's
Society, the first labour organisation of the Kussian immigrants
of that race. Along with propaganda for socialism, it aided
in the organisation of unions in the Jewish trades. But by
1888 aU of these, except the printers' union, had gone to pieces.
They were mostly in the needle trades, and the rock upon which
they split was the Jewish sweat-shop workman's easy elevation
from wage-earner to sweat-shop boss.
The United Hebrew Trades, starting with only 1 union in
1888, had, 2 years later, 40 affiliated unions with 13,500 mem-
bers. The largest unions were those of the tailors and cloak
makers, each running well into the thousands. During 1892
its strength fell off, mainly owing to the ardent agitation**
for the socialist ticket in the presidential campaign, which drew
off from trade union work many of the more energetic mem-
bers. But in 1893 it again recovered and retained some
strength until weakened by the business depression. The Jew-
ish unions conducted many memorable wage struggles from 1888
to 1893, notably those of the cloak makers' union. This union
*3 In the following account of the early by Wm. M. Leiserson, The Jewish Labor
Jewish labour movement the author drew Movement in New York.
largely from an unpublished monograph '^^ The Jews cast 1,500 socialist votes in
New York, or one-fourth of the total.
SOCIALISTS AND LABOUR 519
achieved enormous strength, based on the closed shop, during
1890, but fell asunder after the conviction of its leader, Joseph
Barondess, in 1891, on a charge of extortion.
The United Hebrew Trades joined the Knights of Labor
in 1893 and De Leon at once became a power in the famous but
declining District Assembly 49 of 'New York. He and several
other socialists were elected among the delegates to the Gen-
eral Assembly of 1893, where they combined with Powderly's
enemies and elected Sovereign grand master workman. The
socialists carried the election of officers in District Assembly 49
in 1894 and had 8 delegates out of a total of 63 at the General
Assembly of 1894. Sovereign saw their strength, and, as the
socialists afterwards claimed, promised to appoint Lucien Sanial
as editor of the Journal of the Knights of Labor. As he did
not comply with his alleged promise and as the socialists were
at the same time beaten also in the American Federation of
Labor,*^ the Socialist Trade and Labour Alliance was started
in December, 1895, as a rival to all existing non-socialistic la-
bour organisations. The socialistic Central Labor Federa-
tion of New York, Brooklyn, and !N"ewark, the United Hebrew
Trades, and District Assembly 49, with an aggregate mem-
bership of about 15,000, merged into the new organisation.
However, it proved a failure, and the only outcome, apart from
a socialist vote for president of 36,564 in 1896, was the irre-
parable loss of the socialist cause within the American Federa-
tion of Labor.
With the returning prosperity in the latter nineties, the
formative stage of trade unionism was complete. The wage-
earning class was permanently separated from the middle-clas^.
Wage consciousness permanently displaced middle-class pana-
ceas, such as productive co-operation, currency, and land re-
form. The separation from the outside was accompanied by
a closing up of the ranks within. Yet the new solidarity was
not the emotional solidarity of the Knights of Labor, but a
solidarity expressing itself in the co-operation of the national
trade unions within the Federation and with the growing in-
dustrial unionism. Alongside developed a recognition of part-
nership with the employers — not the partnership of the in-
45 See above, II. 512, 513.
520 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
dividual employe with his employer, as preached by the " so-
cial harmony '' advocates — but the partnership of the wage-
earning class, organised in a national trade or industrial union,
with the employing class, organised in a national employers'
association. This recognition of partnership took full cog-
nizance of the existing antagonism between the two classes but
proposed to bridge it by the trade agreement.
The ideal of the trade agreement was the main achievement
of the nineties. It led the way from an industrial system which
alternately was either despotism or anarchy to a constitutional
form of government in industry. Without the trade agree-
ment the labour movement could hardly come to eschew " pan-
aceas " and to reconstitute itself upon the basis of opportunism.
The coming in of the trade agreement, whether national, sec-
tional, or local, was also the chief factor in stabilising the move-
ment against industrial depressions.
But one should not overlook the other agencies in the labour
struggle which made their appearance about the same time,
namely, the trusts and court injunctions. Enriched on the one
side by the lessons of the past and by the possession of a con-
crete goal in the trade agreement, but pressed on the other side
by a new form of legal attack and by the growing consolidation
of industry, the labour movement in 1897 had started upon a
career of new power and new difficulty.
CHAPTER XIV
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS (FROM 1896)
Industrial Prosperity and the Growth of the Federation. The exten-
sion into new regions and into hitherto untouched trades, 522. Lack of
success among the unskilled, 523. The Industrial Workers of the World,
523. The floaters and foreign-speaking workingmen, 523. Success of the
miners, 523. The garment workers' unions, 524. Progress of the trade-
agreement' idea, 524. Its test during the anthracite miners' strike in 1902,
525. The manufacturers' control over access to the market, 525. The
trust and its effect on unionism, 526. The " open shop movement," 526.
Structural iron industry, 526. Trade-agreement outlook, 527. Awakening
of the public to the existence of a labour question, 527. Evolution of pub-
lic opinion since the eighties, 528. The public and labour legislation, 528.
Organised labour's luke-warmness toward labour legislation, 529. Its
cause, 529. Its effect on the administration of labour laws, 530. The
courts, 530. The Danbury Hatters', the Adair, and Buck's Stove and
Range cases, 530, The failure of lobbying, 531. " Reward your friends and
punish your enemies," 531. Alliance with the Democrats, 531. The social-
ists, 532. Effect of litigation and politics on economic organisation, 533.
Problem of the unskilled, 533. Three forms of industrialism, 533. The
" one big union," 533. Industrialism of the middle stratum, 534. " Craft
industrialism," 534. The National Building Trades' Council, 535. The
Structural Building Trades' Alliance and the theory of " basic " unions,
535. The Building Trades' Department, 536. Other departments, 536.
Forced amalgamations, 537. The new conception of " craft autonomy,"
537. Probable future structure of American labour organisations, 537.
The " concerted movement," 537.
Beginning in 1898 a distinctly new period emerged, but its
facts are so recent that they belong more to a discussion of
current problems than to a record of history. It remains only
to connect them in a general way with the movements of pre-
ceding years.
In 1898 industrial prosperity returned, and with it, a rapid
expansion of labour organisations. At no time in its history,
not excepting the throbbing year of 1886, did labour organisa-
tion make such important gains as during the next five years.
True, in none of these years did the labour movement add over
half a million members as it had done in that memorable year ;
nevertheless, from the standpoint of permanency of achieve-
521
522 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ment, the upheaval during the eighties can scarcely be classed
with that which began in the late nineties.
During 1898 the membership of the American Federation
of Labor remained practically stationary, but during 1899 it
increased by about 70,000 (to about 350,000) ; in 1900, it in-
creased by 200,000 ; in 1901, by 240,000; in 1902, by 247,000 ;
in 1903, by 441,000 ; and in 1904, by 209,000, bringing up the
total to 1,676,000. In 1905 a backward tide set in, and the
membership decreased nearly 200,000 during that year. It
remained practically stationary until 1910, when the upward
movement was resumed, finally bringing the membership up to
2,371,434 in 1917. If we include organisations unaffiliated
with the Federation, such as bricklayers,-^ the four railway
brotherhoods,^ and, prior to 1911, the Western Federation of
Miners, the average increase in union membership would be
about 131,000 per year for 17 years.^
Accompanying this numerical growth was an extension of
organisation into heretofore untouched trades and amongst the
unskilled, as well as a branching out into new geographical re-
gions, the South and the West. There were 92 new national
or international trade unions organised between 1897 and 1904,
while some index of the growth of organisation among the un-
skilled is found in the 4,636 so-called " federal labour unions,"
the " mixed '' locals chartered directly by the American Federa-
tion of Labor and the local labour unions unaffiliated with any
national trade union, which were organised during the same
period. Though the Federation was not unmindful of the un-
1 The International Union of Brick- 1900 865,400
layers, Masons and Plasterers of America, 1901 1,123,600
numbering over 80,000 members, joined 1902 1,374,300
the Federation in 1916. 1903 1,912,900
2 Although the organisations of the loco- 1904 2,072,600
motive engineers, firemen, conductors, and 1905 1,945,000
trainmen take no part in the economic 1906 1,906.300
struggles of the Federation, they give it 1907 2,077,600
their unqualified support in the matter of 1908 2,090,400
obtaining favourable legislation. 1909 2,003,100
3 Prof. George E. Barnett, upon the 1910 2,138,000
basis of an independent investigation, 1911 2,336,500
gives the total membership of all labour 1912 2,440,800
organisations, including those which are 1913 2,701,000
unaffiliated with the Federation, by years 1914 2,674,400
as follows:
("Growth of Labor Organizations," in
1897 444,500 Qxmrterly Journal of Economics, XXX,
1898 497,100 846, Appendix.)
1899 604,100
A. F. OF L. 523
skilled, still, during this period it brought into its fold prin-
cipally the upper strata of semi-skilled labour. In 1905 it did
not comprise to any extent either the totally unskilled, or the
partially skilled foreign-speaking workmen, with the exception
of the miners. In other words, those below the level of the
skilled trades, which did gain admittance, were principally the
same elements which had asserted their claim to organisation
during the stormy period of the Knights of Labor. The new
accretions to the American wage-earning class since the eighties,
the East and South Europeans, on one hand, and the ever-
growing contingent of ^^ floaters " of native and N"orth and West
European stock, on the other, had to await a new upheaval
somewhat similar to that of the eighties in order to make felt
their claims to organisation.
During 1912 and 1913 it appeared to some as though such
an upheaval was close at hand ; it seemed as though a successor
of both the Knights of Labor and the Chicago syndicalists was
created in the Industrial Workers of the World. The latter
had been organised by socialists in 1905 as a rival of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, but split into two factions, two years
later, on the question of political action. The trade union ele-
ment refusing to remain affiliated with either faction, the move-
ment languished until 1912, when the non-political faction sud-
denly became an important factor. Its clamourous debut in
the industrial East, the strikes by non-English-speaking work-
ers in the textile mills of Lawrence, Paterson, and Little Falls
on the one hand, and on the other hand, the less tangible but
no less desperate strikes of casual labourers which occurred from
time to time in the West, bore for the outside observer a marked
resemblance to the Great Upheaval in the eighties. Further-
more, the trained eyes of the leaders of the Federation espied in
the Industrial Workers of the World a new rival which could
best be met on its own ground by organising within the Federa-
tion the very same elements to which it especially addressed
itself. Accordingly at the convention of 1912, held in Roch-
ester, the problem of organising the unskilled occupied a place
near the head of the list. The miners' national union picked
up in earnest the gauntlet thrown down by the new revolution-
ary organisation and succeeded in building up in the anthra-
524 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
cite coal region a large organisation of foreigners, which in
point of fighting ability and permanence did not lag behind the
organisation in other districts where the percentage of foreign-
ers was smaller.
Aside from the miners, the extension of organisation into
these fields made slight progress. After the unsuccessful Pat-
erson strikes the star of the Industrial "Workers of the World
set as rapidly as it had risen, and the organisation rapidly re-
trogressed. At no time did it roll up a membership of more
than 60,000 as compared with the maximum membership of
750,000 of the Knights of Labor. With this dangerous rival
all but extinct, the problem of organising the unskilled has lost
much of its urgency and, largely because too many of its recent
attainments in that direction have ended in failure, the Federa-
tion again perforce remains, with the striking exceptions of
the miners' and garment workers' organisations, mainly the
organisation of the upper and medium strata among the native
and Americanised wage-earners.
The remarkable growth in numbers and the remarkable ca-
pacity to hold them in spite of depression which the American
labour movement has displayed since 1900, very . evidently ac-
counts for the economic strength of the trade unions, a strength
which fhey showed in a most striking manner when they pre-
vented large reduction in wages during the hard times follow-
ing the financial panic of 1907. But even a more striking
proof of their progress is found in the remarkable spread of
trade agreements. The idea of a joint partnership between
organised labour and organised capital, which, ever since the
fifties, had been struggling for acceptance, finally came to frui-
tion. Indeed, so complete, so full of enthusiasm was this newly
discovered reciprocal understanding that the scarcely inter-
rupted prosperity from 1898 to ^904 may with fitness be called
a honeymoon period of capital and labour.
Owing to the depression of the nineties, the moulders' agree-
ment with the National Stove Defense Association remained
for eight years a lone road-post pointing the way which other
industries were soon to follow. Another great stride in the
same direction was taken in 1898, at the time of the settlement
of a general strike in the so-called central competitive bituminous
TRADE AGREEMENTS 626
coal district, whose forerunner we have seen in the imperfect
agreement of 1886.^ The settlement of 1898 was a distinct
gain for unskilled iromigrant labour and industrial unionism.
It was followed shortly by national and district trade agree-
ments in iron moulding, other than stoves, stove mounting and
brass polishing, the machine industry, newspaper and book and
job printing, the pottery industry, the overalls industry, and
the shipping industry of the Great Lakes, and also by innumer-
able local trade agreements in building and other industries.
However, the climax of the trade agreement enthusiasm was
not reached until 1902, when, during the anthracite coal strike,
John Mitchell refused, in spite of the strongest possible pressure,
to order a sympathetic strike of the bituminous coal miners
who had a time agreement with the operators, and gave as his
ground that it would constitute a breach of faith with the em-
ployers. Here, again, the trade agreement, brought about by
arbitration, redounded to the benefit of the immigrant.
The new trade agreement era meant more than the advent
of constitutionalism in the relations between labour and cap-
ital; it signified that the bargaining strength of employer and
employe were more nearly equalised in the organised trades.
What enabled this state of equilibrium to be more or less
permanent in character were the fundamental changes which
had taken place in the control over access to the market. The
struggle between the jobber and the manufacturer had been
largely won by the latter. The manufacturer had either reached
out directly to the ultimate consumer or else, by means of con-
trol over patents or trade-marks, had succeeded in reducing the
merchant-capitalist to a position which more nearly resembled
that of an agent working on a commission than that of the
quondam industrial ruler. The immediate outcome was an
increase in the margin of the^ manufacturer's profits. The
anxiety of operating at a loss thus removed, the manufacturer .
was materially and psychologically ready, if necessary, to as-
sume time obligations with reference to wages and other work-
ing conditions. The recognition of the union and the trade
agreement logically followed.
If the emancipation of the manufacturer from control by
4 See above, II, 425 et teg.
526 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN" THE UNITED STATES
the jobber was tbus perhaps a strong aid in the movement for
trade agreements, the result was entirely different wherever
th"^ manufacturer effected his liberation by means of a " trust."
As soon as the trust became the sole employer of labour in an
industry, the relations between labour and capital were thrown
almost invariably into the state of affairs which had preceded
any organisation of labour whatsoever. By abolishing com-
petition among employers for labour and by giving the em-
ployer unlimited power to hold out against a strike, " trustifi-
cation " destroyed every bargaining advantage which labour ever
enjoyed. The results were not late in making their appearance.
The trade agreement was practically abolished in the steel in-
dustry after the formation of the United States Steel Corpora-
tion in 1901. Similarly, in 1907, soon after the Steel Trust
had become the dominant influence in the carrying trade on
the Great Lakes, the agreement between the Lake Carriers^
Association and the 'longshoremen came to an end. The case
of the bridge and structural iron erecting industry is identical.
But the trust was not the only restraining factor. The
abrupt growth of trade union control over industry caused
many employers to react strongly against the unaccustomed re-
strictions. Especially was the opposition strong against the
closed shop policy of the unions. Accordingly, the " open shop
movement," conducted for the most part by establishments in-
dependent of trusts, endeavoured during 1902-1908 to undo
much that had been accomplished during 1900-1905. Yet
its success has far from measured up to its efforts. Some trade
agreements were not renewed, especially where they had suf-
fered from imperfect administrative machinery, but the unions
were not destroyed, and in many cases, not even weakened.
Only in the bridge and structural iron erecting industry, the
only '^ trustified " industry where the union remained strongly
entrenched for a time, did the open shop movement achieve a
full measure of success and this was followed by the union
adopting terrorist methods. At present the general tendency
seems to be in the direction of more rather than fewer trade
agreements. Since 1910 the trade agreement has made rapid
progress in industries which are manned almost exclusively by
immigrants, such as the needle trades. It is indeed in the
PUBLIC OPINION 527
women's garment industries, starting under the name of the
" protocol," that copartnership between organised capital and
organised labour reached its highest constitutional develops
ment.
At present the trade agreement is one of the most generally
accepted principles in the American labour movement. It is
professed by the " pure and simple " trade unionists and by
the great majority of their socialist opponents. Those who
reject it are a very small minority composed principally of the
sympathisers with the Industrial Workers of the World. How-
ever, it is not to be understood that by accepting the principle
of the trade agreement the labour movement has committed
itself to unlimited arbitration of industrial disputes. The
basic idea of the trade agreement is that of collective bargain-
ing rather than arbitration. The two terms are not always
distinguished, but the essential difference is that in the trade
agreement proper no outside party intervenes to settle the dis-
pute and make an award. The agreement is made by direct
negotiation between the two organised groups, and the sanction
which each holds over the head of the other is the strike or
lockout. If no agreement can be reached, the labour organisa-
tion, as much as the employers' association, insists on its right
to refuse arbitration, whether it be " voluntary " or so-called
" compulsory." ®
Along with the recognition of the unions by organised em-
ployers there came the recognition by the public of the exist-
ence of a labour question as a phenomenon of normal and every-
day social life. Heretofore the labour question had forced
itself upon the attention of the public merely for brief moments
and then invariably in a catastrophic setting. Such was the
case in 1877, 1886, and again in 1894. This was due partly
to the absence of any considerable body of non-partisan writers
on social and political subjects, who, in Europe, are aptly called
" publicists " ; and it was due in part to the somewhat deliber-
ate self-sufficiency of the trade union movement after it had
achieved complete wage-consciousness. It was not until the
great anthracite coal strike of 1902, with the threatened spec-
tacular interference by President Koosevelt and the widely dis-
6 See Commons and Andrews, Principles of Labor Legislation, chap. iii.
528 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
cnssed award by tlie public commission of arbitration, that the
public at large became accustomed to view the labour question
in a matter-of-course, non-hysterical light. Also one year
earlier, in 1901, the formation of the National Civic Federa-
tion, with the prime purpose of promoting trade agTeements,
had signified the awakening of the most far-sighted members
of the business and financial class to the importance of a peace-
able solution of the labour question. Since then the labour
question has held the public stage practically without interrup-
tion, though the interest it has aroused has of necessity fluctu-
ated.
Probably nothing has contributed to bring the labour ques-
tion to the front as much as the periodically recurring threats
of railway strikes in connection with demands made by the
brotherhoods of railway employes upon the companies. The
overwhelming public interest in averting such strikes has led
to Federal legislation providing for mediation and concilia-
tion, and lending the aid of government to strengthen systems
of trade agreements which, on some of the roads, have existed
for several decades. In the summer of 1916, when neither
private negotiations nor Federal mediation seemed to be able
to avert a general strike by the four brotherhoods for the eight-
hour day, Congress enacted, upon the recommendation of the
President, the legal eight-hour day for engineers, firemen, con-
ductors, and brakemen, and this was afterwards sustained by
the United States Supreme Court.®
A clear gauge of the growth of popular education on the
labour question is given by the McNamara dynamite case.
What a difference between the attitude of the public toward this
case of extreme and premeditated violence and its attitude
towards the suspected Chicago anarchists! In 1886, bloody r^
venge and suppression were violently demanded. In 1912 noth-
ing more drastic was heard than a demand for an impartial in-
vestigation of the causes of the labour unrest, with a view to
the prevention of future conflicts, and scarcely any call for
revenge or any disaster to the labour movement as a whole.
The aroused sympathetic interest of the public in the labour
question is beginning to produce results also in the field of la-
« Wilson V. New, 37, Sup. Ct. 298 (1917).
LEGISLATION 529
hour legislation. During the last half dozen years, two-thirds
of the States have adopted the principle of workmen's com-
pensation for all industrial accidents, preparing in this manner
a fertile ground for the important movement for industrial
safety. Other protective regulations have been the prohibition
by the Federal taxing power of the use of an industrial poison,
the provision in several States of one day's rest in seven, the
beginning of effective prohibition of night work, of maximum
limits upon the length of the working day, and of minimum
wage laws for women. This legislation differs from the class
legislation demanded by workingmen during preceding periods
in that it bases itself entirely upon police power, a power which,
as a result of the spreading understanding of the labour prob-
lem, and the persistent demand coming from the public as well
as from organised labour, has become so broadened in scope
that much which, a decade or two ago, would have been ruled
out of court as class legislation, has recently been held to be
warranted under the Federal and the state constitutions.'^
'Not is it amiss to emphasise the role of the public in bring-
ing this legislation about. American trade unions are unique
in that, of the labour movements in the whole world, with the
sole exception of the French Confederation Generale du Travail,
they make the least demand upon the government along the line
of legal protection to labour. Owing to the constitutional sep-
aration of powers between the executive, the legislative, and the
judiciary, and especially owing to the existence of the four
dozen different state governments, each a law unto itself, Amer-
ican labour leaders have for the most part become convinced,
after long and discouraging experience with unconstitutional
and unenforceable labour laws, that only through trade unions
can the wage-earner secure protection worthy of the name. In
the shadow of this mistrust of governmental action, there de-
veloped a nervous fear lest by legislative meddling, however
well intentioned, trade union action would be hampered.
Hence the Federation is generally opposed to legislation on
wages and hours, except as affecting women and children. It
is for this reason that it desires to have trade union members
in all the public offices dealing with labour, and, on the whole,
7 See Commong and Andrews, Prineiplet of Labor Legislation.
530 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
remains indifferent to the consideration of efficiency in the ad-
ministration of labour laws. At present this attitude towards
the State is supported by the bulk of the voting strength of or-
ganised labour, especially of unions most typical of the strength
of the American labour movement, such as the highly organised
building trades and the railway brotherhoods.^
As the American labour movement has become adjusted to
a purely economic horizon, it follows that it will undertake
political action only when its freedom of economic action be-
comes threatened. The recollection of the many trade unions
in the past wrecked on the rocks of political intrigue undoubtedly
is another factor militating against participation in politics.
When employers discovered that they could not place com-
plete reliance upon the executive officers of the democratically
controlled state, they turned to the courts for protection. The
latter responded by developing a code of trade union law,
which, having for its cornerstone a resurrected doctrine of
malicious conspiracy as applied to labour combinations and,
for its weapon, the injunction, proceeded to outlaw the boy-
cott, to materially circumscribe the right to strike, and even
to turn against labour the Federal statutes which had been
originally directed against railway and industrial monopoly.
The height of this development, which had begun in the
eighties and continued during the nineties, was reached in the
well-known D anbury Hatters' case, passed upon by the United
States Supreme Court early in 1908.^ The Sherman anti-trust
law, of 1890, had been applied in labour cases in the past,
notably in the Pullman boycott case, but never in a civil suit
for damages against the individual members of a trade union.
In this case the significant thing was not that a few union
leaders were to be punished with short terms of imprison-
ment, but that the life savings of several hundreds of
the members were attached to satisfy the staggering triple
8 The acceptance by the railway brother- 191 7, was arrived at as a result of negoti-
hoods and the American Federation of ation between the railways and the brother-
Labor of the Adamson Act of 1916 does hoods, shortly before the decision by the
not necessarily contradict this conclusion. United States Supreme Court on the con-
The law was an expedient adopted by the stitutionality of the Adamson Act.
President and Congress to avert a threat- » For the several stages of this case,
ened general railway strike, after con- see Loewe v. Lawlor, 208 U. S. 274
ciliation and mediation had both failed. (1908); Lawlor v. Loewe, 209 Fed. 721
The final settlement, in the spring of (1913), 285 U. S. 522 (1914),
POLITICS 531
damages awarded the employer under the anti-trust law. Close
upon the outlawing of the boycott in the Danbury hatters' case,
came the Adair decision, ^*^ which in effect legalised " blacklist-
ing '' of employes by employers. A few months later, the courts
dealt another blow to the boycott in the Buck's Stove and Range
case, when Gompers, Morrison, and Mitchell were sentenced to
imprisonment, ranging from six months to one year, for disre-
garding the court's injunction against the boycott of the St.
Louis firm.^^
After the middle of the nineties the Federation had had an
official legislative programme, but only as a minor feature.
The legislative committee would urge, at each session of Con-
gress, the passage of certain labour bills, notably bills affecting
the legal status of the trade unions ; and state federations would
urge similar measures upon state legislatures. A considerable
degree of success was attained in the latter, but practically the
result was that employers learned to invoke the interference of
the Federal courts. At Washington the labour bills were passed
by the House of Representatives at several sessions of Congress,
but invariably failed in the Senate. About 1904, owing to the
activity of the N'ational Association of Manufacturers and re-
lated organisations, the employers' control became consolidated
also in the House. Wish as it might, the Federation could no
longer remain a purely economic organisation. It was obliged
to seek influence in elections.
The first attempt was made in the congressional campaign
of 1906. The method was the identical one which had been
used by George Henry Evans in the homestead movement and
had been urged by Ira Steward in the movement for the eight-
hour day, " reward your friends and punish your enemies."
And, though some of the hostile Congressmen were not de-
feated for office, their majorities were considerably reduced.
In 1908 the method of ^' questioning " was applied to the con-
ventions of the two great parties, and the Democratic party
was endorsed.^2 At the elections of 1910 and 1912 the Demo-
10 Adair v. U. S., 208 U. S. 161 L. Rep. 706 (1909); 221 U. S. 418
(1908). (1911) ; 233 U. S. 604 (1914).
11 For the several stages of this case, 12 See " Official Circular " signed by
see 35 Wash. L. Rep. 747 (1908) ; 36 President Gompers, in American Feder-
Wash. L. Rep. 828 (1908) ; 37 Wash. ationiat, November, 1908, pp. 955-957,
532 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
crats were again endorsed. ^^ The Democratic victories re-
sulted in the passage of legislation which, whatever its real
worth after the courts shall have passed upon it, at present
seems to satisfy the Federation leaders. The eight-hour law on
public contract work, the seamen's law, and the creation of a
Department of Labor with a seat in the Cabinet, were un-
qualified gains, but considerable uncertainty attaches to the
value of the Cla;>i:on Act which was designed, in addition to
other things, to redefine the status of trade unions before the
law. l^ot until the courts have interpreted these provisions
can there be had an authoritative estimate of labour's success
in regaining its freedom of collective action. The defiant at-
titude assumed by the Federation at its convention in 1916
on the question of the legal interference with labour organisa-
tions seems to indicate that organised labour will scarcely be
contented with a compromise.
The political activity of the American Federation of Labor
should be sharply distinguished from that of the Socialist party
of America. Socialists welcomed the former, as they expected
that it would become the forerunner of an independent labour
party or else of a standing alliance between the Federation and
their party, such as exists in Germany. So far these expecta-
tions have failed to come true ; and indications are lacking that
they may do so in the near future. So long as the majority
of the American trade unions refuse to make labour legislation
a cornerstone in their programme, so long as their chief con-
cern with politics remains merely to protect their freedom of
economic action, just so long, it seems, they will lack an ade-
quate incentive for forming an independent labour party.
Since 1900 socialism has been making rapid progress in the
labour ranks. In the last four years it has succeeded in gain-
ing the support of the important unions of the miners and the
machinists. It now commands about one-third of the votes at
the annual conventions of the Federation, coming, to a large
extent, from the " industrial unions," and it has reached a
million votes at national elections. The old-time struggle be-
tween the rival ideas of political and economic socialism, which
dates back to the time of the Lassallean movement and the In-
1» Ihid., October, 1912, pp. 804-814.
INDUSTRIALISM 538
ternational, in some measure finds a modem counterpart in the
rivalry between the political socialists and the syndicalist
movement.
Socialism has acquired a considerable following also among
the native-bom educated classes, and has gained some noted
converts among the rising class of American " publicists,"
which, in certain respects, enables it to exercise an influence in
the community, which is not to be measured only by its polling
strength. The notable though brief socialist administrations
in Milwaukee and Schenectady have demonstrated that, at last,
after nearly sixty years of effort to become acclimatised, there
is such a thing as an '^ American '^ socialism.
Whatever the direct success or failure, it cannot be doubted
that litigation and political and legislative activity led to im-
desirable consequences in the fields of economic action proper.
Litigation absorbed a considerable portion of the Federation's
income. Legislative and political action, while less costly from
the financial standpoint, perhaps proved even a greater burden
fr^ the standpoint of organisation. It diverted the attention
of the active men in the Federation from the work of organising
new trades. The inevitable outcome of the slackening eco-
nomic activity of the Federation was the failure to spread out
in the field where organisation was most needed, namely among
the unskilled. This was also due in part to the conviction of
many that the unskilled and foreign element would, for some
reason, remain unresponsive to the kind of appeal which they
were in a position to make, and further, that when organised
such organisation would be short-lived. The unskilled were
practically let alone by the Federation after 1904. Thus the
field was clear for the revolutionary industrialist movement of
syndicalism.
But there may be traced out three kinds of industrialism,
each answering the demands of a particular stratum of the
wage-earning class. The class lowest in the scale, the unskilled
and " floaters," conceives industrialism as " one big union,"
where not only trade but even industrial distinctions are vir-
tually ignored with reference to action against employers, if
not also with reference to the principle of organisation. In
the eighties, it was this class that saw in the Knights of Labor
634 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
its saviour, and it is this same class that recently responded to
the Industrial Workers of the World. The native floater in
the West and the unskilled foreigner in the East are equally
responsive to the appeal to storm capitalism in a successive
series of revolts under the hanner of the " one hig union."
Uniting in its ranks the workers with the least experience in
organisation and with none in political action, the " one big
union " pins its faith upon assault rather than " armed peace,"
upon the strike without the trade agreement, and has no faith
whatsoever in political or legislative action. Such is syndical-
ism — the industrialism of the immigrant unskilled and native
floating classes, whose power is spectacular but not continuous.
Another form of industrialism is that of the middle stratum
of the Federation — trades which are moderately skilled and
have had considerable experience in organisation, such as the
brewers and miners. They realise that, in order to attain an
equal footing with the employers, they must present a front
co-extensive with the employers' association, which means that
all trades in an industry must act under one direction. Hence
they strive to assimilate the engineers and machinists, whose
labour is essential to the continuance of the operation of the
plant. They thus reproduce on a minor scale the attempt of
the Knights of Labor during the eighties to engulf the more
skilled trade unions.
At the same time the relatively unprivileged position of these
trades makes them keenly alive to the danger from below,
from the unskilled whom the employer may break into their
jobs in case of strikes. They therefore favour taking such into
the organisation. Their industrialism is consequently caused
perhaps more by their own trade considerations than by the al-
truistic desire to uplift the unskilled, although they realise that
the organisation of the unskilled is required by the broader
interests of the wage-earning class. However, their long ex-
perience in matters of organisation teaches them that the " one
big union " would be a poor medium. Their accumulated ex-
perience likewise has a moderating influence on their economic
activity, and they are consequently among the strongest sup-
porters inside the American Federation of Labor of the trade
agreement. Nevertheless, opportunistic though they are in the
INDUSTRIALISM 636
industrial field, their position is not sufficiently favoured above
the unskilled to make them satisfied with the wage system.
Hence, they are mostly controlled by socialists and are strongly
in favour of political action through the Socialist party. This
form of industrialism may consequently be called '^ socialist in-
dustrialism.'^ In the annual conventions of the Federation,
" industrialists " are practically synonymous with socialists and
they control about one-third of the total vote.
But there is still another form of industrialism, that of the
upper stratum. Long before industrialism had entered the na-
tional arena as the economic creed of syndicalists and socialists,
the unions of the skilled began to evolve an industrialism of
their own. This species may properly be termed craft indus-
trialism, as it seeks merely to unite on an efficient basis the
fighting strength of the unions of the skilled trades by devising
a method for speedy solution of jurisdictional disputes between
overlapping unions and by reducing the sympathetic strike to
a science. This movement first manifested itself in the early
eighties in the form of local building trades' councils, which
especially devoted themselves to sympathetic strikes. This lo-
cal industrialism grew, after a fashion, to national dimensions
in the form of the International Building Trades Council or-
ganised in St. Louis in 1897. The latter proved, however, in-
effective, since, having for its basic unit the local building
trades' council, it inevitably came into conflict with the national
unions in the building trades. For the same reason it was
barred from obtaining the recognition of the American Fed-
eration of Labor. The date of the real birth of craft indus-
trialism on a national scale was therefore deferred to 1903,
when the Structural Building Trades Alliance was founded.
The formation of the Alliance marks an event of supreme im-
portance, not only because for the first time it united for com-
mon action all the important national unions in the building
industry, but especially because it promulgated a new prin-
ciple which^ if generally adopted, was apparently destined to
revolutionise the structure of American labour organisations.
The Alliance purported to be a federation of the " basic " trades
in the industry, and in reality it did represent an entente of the
big and aggressive unions. These were moved to federate, not
586 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
only for the purpose of forcing the straggle against the em-
ployers, but also of expanding at the expense of the " non-basic "
or weak unions, besides seeking to annihilate the last vestiges
of the International Building Trades Council. The Brother-
hood of Carpenters and Joiners, probably the most aggressive
union in the American Federation of Labor, was the leader
in this movement. From the standpoint of the Federation,
the Structural Alliance was at best an extra-legal organisation,
as it did not receive the latter's formal sanction, but the Fed-
eration could scarcely afford to ignore it as it had ignored the
International Building Trades Council. Thus in 1908 the
Alliance was legitimatised and made the first " Department "
of the American Fed^ation of Labor under the name of Build-
ing Trades Department, with the settlement of jurisdictional
disputes as its main function. It was followed by departments
of metal trades, of railway employes, of miners, and by a
" label " department.
It is not, however, open to much doubt that the Department
was not a very successful custodian of the trade autonomy
principle, as announced in the well-known " Scranton Declara-
tion " adopted in 1901 at the convention held in Scranton,
Pennsylvania. Jurisdictional disputes are caused either by a
technical change, which plays havoc with official " jurisdic-
tion " or else by a plain desire on the part of the stronger union
to encroach upon the province of the weaker one. When the
former was the case and the struggle happened to be between
unions of equal strength and influence, it generally terminated
in a compromise. When, however, the combatants were two
unions of unequal strength, the doctrine of the supremacy of
" basic unions " was generally made to prevail in the end.
Such was the outcome of the struggle between carpenters and
joiners on the one side and the wood workers on the other, and
also between the plumbers and steam fitters. In each case it
ended in the forced amalgamation of the weaker union with
the stronger one, upon the principle that there must be only
one union in each " basic '' trade. In the case of the steam-
fitters, which was settled finally at the convention at Rochester
in 1912, the American Federation of Labor gave what might
be interpreted as an official sanction of the new doctrine.
INDUSTEIALISM 537
Notwithstanding these official lapses from the principle of
trade autonomy, the socialist industrialists were still compelled
to abide by the letter and the spirit of the Scranton declaration.
The effect of such a policy on the coming American industrial-
ism may be twofold. It may resemble less closely the brewers*
or the miners' unions than the industrial unions of Germany.
In the former all who work for the same employer belong to
one organisation, but in the latter all who work upon the same
kind of material, such as wood, metal, etc., belong together.
Or, the future development of the " Department " may enable
the strong " basic " unions to undertake concerted action
against employers, while each retains its own autonomy. Such,
indeed, is the notable " concerted movement " of the railway
brotherhoods, which during the past ten years has begun to set
a type for craft industrialism. It is not at all unlikely that
the strenuous opposition which the four brotherhoods have
met on the part of the railways during the concerted movement
for the eight-hour day in the summer of 1916, especially in
view of the turn toward legislation which this matter took with
the passage of the Adamson law, might lead to a more or less
permanent affiliation between these hitherto unaffiliated organi-
sations and the American Federation of Labor.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
General Survey, 541. Colonial and Federal Beginnings, 548. Citizen-
ship, 555. Trade Unionism, 561. Humanitarianism, 566. Nationalisa-
tion, 571. Upheaval and Reorganisation, 576.
GENERAL SURVEY
In no country has the value of strictly economic records been
sufficiently appreciated, whether by the government or by pri-
vate associations and least of all in America. As far as colon-
ial industrial conditions and policies are concerned, with the
special organisations of those days such as guilds, voluntary
associations to raise capital, to develop markets, and to enlist
governmental support for domestic producers, the economic his-
torian is able to draw, in common with the general historian,
upon such sources as Colonial Eecords, local histories, and pub-
lications of historical societies.
For the succeeding periods, and especially on the subject of
the early labour struggles, there has been until recently scarcely
any collected documentary material. The first state bureau of
labour statistics in the United States was established in Massa-
chusetts in 1869 and the Federal Bureau first came into exist-
ence in 1884. In their reports there are a few cursory studies
of labour events and conditions during earlier years, such as
the incomplete chronology of strikes since 1825, given for Mas-
sachusetts in the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Eleventh Annual Report, 1880, pp. 3-71; the accoimt of
'^ Strikes and Lockouts occurring Prior to 1881 in the United
States," in the Commissioner of Labor, Third Annual Report,
1887, pp. 1029-1108 ; the similar one for Pennsylvania since
1835 in Secretary of Internal Affairs, Annual Report,
1880-1881 (Ilarrisburg, 1882), Pt. Ill, Industrial Statis-
tics, IX, 262-391 ; and the list of eleven (instead of seventeen)
labour conspiracy cases prior to 1842 enumerated in the United
States Bureau of Labor, Sixteenth Annual Ueport^ J901? pp.
541
542 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
873-986. A Documentary History of the Early Organiza-
tions of Printers was prepared by Ethelbert Stewart (United
States Bureau of Labor, Bulletin No. 61, 1905), and is the
pioneer work in the field.
In 1886, when Professor Kichard T. Ely, of the University
of Wisconsin, then of Johns Hopkins University, published
his Labor Movement in America, he said in the preface: "I
offer this book merely as a sketch which will, I trust, some
day be followed by a book worthy of the title History of
Labor in the New World.'' During the following two decades,
keeping this aim in mind, Professor Ely made notes and memo-
randa for this larger work and especially spared neither ef-
fort nor expense in collecting material for that book. As a
result, he found himself in possession of a unique collection of
labour literature which had outgrown the capacity of a pri-
vate house and had begun to involve an expense beyond his
private resources. For a time the Wisconsin Historical So-
ciety housed and cared for the Collection and assisted in its
enlargement. With the growth of the Collection and the possi-
bilities of still further enlargement, the expense involved be-
coming greater, with the approval of Dr. Reuben Gold
Thwaites, Secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society, the
Collection, after examination by Mr. Clement W. Andrews,
the librarian, was turned over to the John Crerar Library of
Chicago.
The management of the Crerar Library evinced special in-
terest in this field of work and undertook to care for and in-
crease the collection. In addition, it agreed to the condition
that Dr. Ely and his co-workers at Madison should have the
right to borrow or use at Madison any part of the Collection
needed in the prosecution of his undertaking.
By letters and personal interviews with prominent men
throughout the country. Professor Ely strove to secure the or-
ganisation of a society for industrial research. As a result
of his initiative and the personal interest as well as material
support of Messrs. V. Everit Macy (treasurer), Robert Hun-
ter, Robert Fulton Cutting, Justice Henry Dugro, and William
English Walling, of New York, Stanley McCormick and
Charles R. Crane, of Chicago, and others, the American Bureau
BIBLIOGEAPHY 543
of Industrial Kesearch was organised with headquarters in
Madison, Wisconsin.
Dr. Ely's collection was turned over to the Crerar before
the American Bureau was established. But this event changed
the situation and made it advisable to form as large a collec-
tion in Madison as possible, and in this effort the University of
Wisconsin and the State Historical Society have co-operated,
with the result that in Madison and Chicago are now un-
rivalled collections and their use is available for the work of
all investigators.
A survey of the field revealed an unexpected wealth of hith-
erto unknown sources in the form of pamphlets and files of
newspapers published in the interest of early labour organi-
sations. Some of the newspapers in question had not hitherto
been consulted at any time, so far as the librarians in charge
were aware, and in one library, The Man, a daily labour
paper, published in co-operation with the Trades' Union of
E'eAv York in 1834 and 1835, was discovered literally buried
beneath the accumulations of seventy years. Some of the most
important material, however, has not been found in libraries,
but has been obtained by searching dusty old bookshops in
many cities, and by begging or buying personal collections
from aged labour leaders — a part of the work carried on
largely by Dr. John B. Andrews, Dr. Helen L. Sumner, and
Mrs. W. H. Lighty. Many others also aided generously and
loyally, and their help is highly appreciated even if they are
too many to be named in this connection. The collection thus
made is now in the libraries of the University of Wisconsin
and of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, both of which
have given valuable co-operation.
An important collection is the one secured through the ef-
forts of Dr. E. T. Ely from Mr. Herman Schliiter who be-
came interested in the w^ork of the Bureau. William English
Walling, of I^ew York, contributed a generous sum toward the
purchase price of this collection. It not only contains ma-
terial covering the history of practically all the organisations
of Grerman-speaking working-men in the United States, social-
istic, trade union, benevolent as well as co-operative in early
days, but presents also a rich collection of matei'ials and docu-
544 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ments pertaining to the early history of the socialist movement
in Germany. Many of the documents in this collection came
to Mr. Schliiter from the late F. A. Sorge, surnamed the " Fa-
ther of American Socialism/' a personal friend of Marx and
Engels, and their '^ official " representative in this country.
Especially noteworthy among the " Sorge Documents " are the
letter copy-book of the North American Federation of the Inter-
national Workingmen's Association, 1869-1876, and a tran-
scription of the letters and addresses which were sent by Sorge,
in his capacity of General Secretary of the International
Workingmen's Association, 1872-1876, to the national organi-
sations of the International in Europe.
Another important collection in possession of the American
Bureau of Industrial Eesearch is the Henry Demarest Lloyd
Collection abounding in material on co-operation and the so-
cialist movement during the nineties. A unique document
obtained by the Bureau is a complete file of Die Repuhlik der
Arheiter (probably the only one in existence) (New York,
1^50-1855), edited by Wilhelm Weitling, the famous com-
munist. This came from the Philadelphia Freie Gemeinde.
Among the rarer and more important documents secured by
the Bureau, in addition to those already mentioned, are: the
Chicago W orkingman s Advocate, 1864-1876 ; Fincher's
Trades' Review, Philadelphia, 1863-1866, the Practical Chris-
tian, edited by Adin Ballou, 1860-1880, and the John Samuel
Collection on Co-operation, composed of manuscripts, letters,
and scrapbooks.
Practically all the large libraries of the country were vis-
ited by John B. Andrews, Helen L. Sumner, and Professor
Commons. In October, 1906, the Bureau sent out to nearly
500 libraries a printed finding list containing the names of
about 160 labour papers and papers sympathetic to labour pub-
lished in the United States before 1872. By means of this
list a number of valuable papers, of which no record had pre-
viously been found, were located.
As it was impossible to borrow these newspapers and it would
be expensive to study them with the care they deserved in
their scattered situations, it was decided to take transcripts
from their most important articles and to abstract notes of
BIBLIOGRAPHY 545
the less important. As a result, the Bureau now possesses a
card catalogue, each card presenting either a brief statement
of a labour event or else a summary of an article on a labour
subject to be found in other libraries, as well as half a dozen
large-sized filing cases of transcribed articles.
In view of the rarity of the sources and the interest mani-
fested by economists and historians, the idea was suggested of
publishing the material, in so far as it might be considered to
have documentary value, in such form as to be available for
students, economists, and historians. The outcome was the
Documentary History of American iTidustrial Society (Cleve-
land, 1910). Of the ten volumes of this Documentary His-
tory, two, edited by U. B. Phillips, are devoted to Plantation
and Frontier, 1649-1863; two (and a supplement), edited by
J. R. Commons and E. A. Gilmore, to Labor Conspiracy
Cases, 1806-1842; two, to Lalor Movement, 1820-1840; two
to Labor Movement, 1840-1860, and two, to Labor Move-
ment, 1860-1880. The last volume contains a Finding List of
Sources Quoted for seventy libraries. About one-tenth of the
transcribed material in possession of the Bureau, selected for
its typical value, found a place on the pages of the Documentary
History,
Since the eighties, facilities for writing labour history began
more or less to approximate those commanded by the general
historian, owing to the output of the various labour bureaus
and to frequent governmental investigations into labour con-
ditions and labour troubles. The most convenient index of
Federal documents is the Chechlist of United States Public
Documents, 1789-1909 (Vol. I, 1911) prepared by the Super-
intendent of Documents, Washington. For state publications,
the most valuable is the '"'' Index of Economic Material in Docvr
ments of the States of the United States prepared by Adelaide
E. Hasse (Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publications,
1907-1915). This index has thus far been compiled for
thirteen states. There is also an Index of All Reports issued
by Bureaus of Labor Statistics in the United States Prior to
March 1, 1902, published by the United States Department of
Labor (Washington, 1902). Unfortunately there does not ex-
ist a similar useful index for the period since 1902,
546 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
An exceedingly useful Trial Bibliography of American
Trade-Union Publications was prepared by the Economic Semi-
nary of the Johns Hopkins University, and edited by Dr.
G. E. Barnett (Baltimore, 1904), of which a second revised
edition also appeared (Baltimore, 1907). It is far more than
a mere enumeration of titles, as it is combined with a finding
list which comprises the Johns Hopkins University Library, the
Library of the Federal Department of Labor, the John Crerar
Library (Chicago), the Library of Congress, and the central
office of the particular union or federation. The Division of
Bibliography of the Library of Congress published a Select
List of Books (with reference to periodicals) on Labor, par-
ticularly relating to strikes (Washington, 1903). The State
Historical Society of Wisconsin, Bulletin of Information, 'No.
77 (Madison, 1915) describes the Collection on Labor and So-
cialism in the Wisconsin State Historical Library.
American historians, until within the last ten or fifteen
years, were wholly unconscious of the existence of a permanent
labour question. It was only following such catastrophic
events as the railway strikes of 1877, the anarchist bombs in
Chicago, and the Pullman strike of 1894, that the labour move-
ment temporarily forced itself upon their attention. The
workingmen's political movement during the thirties is treated
in John Bach McMaster's History of the People of the United
States (New York, 1900), V, 84-108, and VI, 80-101 (New
York, 1906). The movement from the forties to the seven-
ties was practically unnoticed by the historians, with the ex-
ception of its humanitarian and intellectual offshoots during
the forties and fifties. The labour movement during the Civil
War is treated in E. D. Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions
in the North during the Civil War (New York, 1910), 182-
212. E. E. Sparks in his National Development, 1877-1885
(New York, 1907), Vol. XXIII of The American Nation
Series, has a chapter on the labour movement, 1875-1885.
There is a similar chapter on the movement, 1884—1888, in
D. K. Dewey, National Problems, 1885-1897 (New York,
1907), Vol. XXIV, and a part of a chapter in J. H. Latane,
America as a World Power, 1897-1907 (New York, 1907), Vol.
XXV of the same series, on the movement since 1895.
BIBLIOGEAPHY 547
If labour history still remains a field practically untilled
by the general historian, important beginnings have already
been made by the economists. Dr. Richard T. Ely's Labor
Movement in America (Baltimore, 1886) gives a valuable
sketch of the events of the labour movement prior to 1886, the
first ever attempted. The justly deserved reputation of his
book rests on this and, to a still greater extent, on the attitude
of the author towards his subject. This attitude, namely a
strictly objective point of view, combined with broad sympa-
thies for the labouring class struggling for recognition in a
democracy, was entirely novel in America when Dr. Ely pub-
lished his book, but it has since been adopted by a majority of
American economic writers.
Of great value is also the work by August Sartorius Freili. v.
Waltershausen, a trained German economist who travelled in
the United States during 1880 and 1881, Die nordamerir
hanischen Gewerhschaften unter dem Einfluss der fortschrel-
tenden Productionstechnik (Berlin, 1886).
F. A. Sorge, the foremost leader of the International Work-
ingmen's Association in America, deserves well of the student
of labour history. Although he had for several decades him-
self taken a leading part in the American labour movement,
his historical work leaves little to be desired as far as objective-
ness is concerned. He published a series of articles on Amer-
ican labour history, 1850-1896, in the Neue Zeit (Stuttgart)
between 1890 and 1895.
George E. Mdl^eill's The Labor Movement — The Problem
of To-day (Boston and l^ew York, 1887) contains an account
of the history of the labour movement as a whole from early
times to 1886, separate accounts of the histories of a number
of trades, and a semi-historical, semi-expository treatment of
the following labour problems : labour legislation, co-operation,
arbitration, Chinese immigration, industrial education, the land
question, and unemployment.
The bibliographies in the following pages include only pub-
lications which have been actually cited in the text of the sev-
eral parts of these volumes. Besides these citations a very
large number of papers and pamphlets had been examined but
no citation is actually made to them. A complete bibliography
548 HISTORY OP LABOUR IN" THE UNITED STATES
of the periods covered in these volumes would constitute a good-
sized volume in itself.
PART I. COLONIAL AND FEDERAL BEGINNINGS TO 1827
Most of the primary and secondary sources upon which the
description and analysis of Colonial industrial conditions and
policies is based and which require critical treatment have
been reviewed either in the bibliographies of Johnson's His-
tory of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in the United States,
or Clark's History of Manufactures in the United States.
Evidently an attempt to appraise them here would be but repe-
tition.
However, several classes of sources have thus far received
scant consideration. Such are the semi-official documents like
city annals, of which Munsell's Annals of Albany is an illus-
tration, and descriptive manuals, like Mease's The Picture of
Philadelphia, which contain authentic records of significant
local events, as well as descriptions of the numerous organised
activities of the inhabitants. Similarly, advertisements in city
directories are especially useful for the study of commercial
phases of economic life.
Extensive search, but with limited success, was also made
for proceedings and other official records of economic organi-
sations. Among those discovered were The Annals of the
General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of
'New York, and the Ordinances, By-Laws and Resolutions of
the Carpenters' Company. The rules, correspondence with
kindred societies, and other items contained in these documents,
often made it possible better to comprehend complex economic
situations, as well as to gauge the extent to which these asso-
ciations co-operated in furthering matters vital to their exist-
ence.
There is also lacking the systematic publication of private
records, such as business accounts and correspondence, similar
to those contained in U. B. Phillips' Plantation and Frontier
mentioned above.
Of what might be termed semi-documentary sources, local
histories are, of course, most useful. Appreciative historic
BIBLIOGRAPHY 549
sketches of early industrial organisations also belong to this
class of sources. However, only one, Bett's Carpenters' Hall
and its Historic Memories, has been found.
It is from sources such as enumerated above that the most
instructive material for Colonial economic history must be de-
rived. Without them the economic historian must rely solely
upon his imagination in his endeavour to picture and interpret
many of the controlling forces of Colonial economic life.
Unfortunately, with the exception of local histories and city
directories, these sources have not been collected extensively.
A large part of them are probably extant in manuscript form,
and in the possession of persons who do not appreciate their
historical significance. A properly directed search should yield
as bountiful a harvest as did the searches of the American
Bureau of Industrial Kesearch in allied fields.
Since this is the dormant period in American labour his-
tory and only two trades had continuous organisations, trade
union sources are naturally few. By way of secondary ac-
counts chronicling the activities of wage earners in general,
we have the essentially sketchy but fruitful account in Mc-
Master's History of the People of the United States; Ethelbert
Stewart's article on Two Forgotten Decades in the History of
Labor Organisations, 1820-18^0 ; and Glocker's Trade Union-
ism in Baltimore Before the War of 1812, a Johns Hopkins
University Seminary Report. Each of these has been of un-
usual help in shedding light on the extent and nature of early
unions. They have also rendered yeoman service by furnish-
ing clues to newspaper sources which invariably contained
valuable accounts of important labour activities. McMaster's
history was especially helpful for this purpose. Without the
ai(i of this pioneer work many of the early labour organisations
would probably not have been located.
We also have secondary accounts of one of the two trades
that had reached the stage of continuous organisation. The
Printers' Circular reproduced " A Historical Sketch of the
Philadelphia TypogTaphical Society, 1802-1811," written by
contemporary members, and following the method common to
untrained historical writers. Professor Geo. E. Bamett's
scholarly history of '^'' The Printers '* is the other secondary
550 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
source, and, being accepted as the final work on the history of
that trade, needs no evaluation here.
For the printers the primary sources are plentiful. Fortu-
nately Professor Barnett had the minutes of the Philadelphia
Typographical Society, 1802-1811, and of the New York
Typographical Society, 1809-1818, typewritten and a copy
deposited with the Johns Hopkins University Library, thus
making them available to all students. Ethelbert Stewart's
A Documentary History of the Early Organisations of Printers,
and George A. Stevens' work on New York Typographical
Union No. 6, are conscientious compilations of documents
illuminatingly explained, illustrating both the formal and hu-
man phases of the early printers' organisations.
Unfortunately none of the ofiicial trade union records of the
cordwainers could be located. If it were not for the testimony
in the conspiracy cases, reprinted in volumes III and IV of
the Documentary History of American Industrial Society, we
should entirely lack a comprehensive record of their activities.
However, this voluminous testimony amply depicts the nature
of their grievances, demands, policies, and point of view.
Unlike the succeeding periods, this dormant period in the
history of American labour naturally has no trade union organs.
ISTeverthelesSj the scattered newspaper accounts, especially those
of the Jeffersonian press; the controversial testimony, vitriolic
arguments of attorneys and vindictive instructions of judges;
the " spicy " minutes of the printers — all these sources when
brought together give us a vivid and realistic picture of the
prevailing spirit of that time which witnessed the uprising of
a new, virile and constantly ascending class.
I. Public Documents.
J. Munsell. The Annals of Albany (Albany, 1852), III.
Boston Directory of 1823.
An Act to condense all the Ordinances, By-Laws, and Resolutions
of the Carpenters Corporation, now in force into one law
(1807). Copy in Wisconsin Historical Society Collection,
Philadelphia Miscellaneous Pamphlets, VI.
An Act to Incorporate the Carpenters Company of the City and
County of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1827). Copy in Wis-
BIBLIOGRAPHY 551
consin Historical Society Collection, Philadelphia Miscellan-
eous Pamphlets, VI.
The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, from 1636-1665
(Hartford, 1850); 1665-1678 (1852); 1744-1750 (1876).
Archives of Maryland, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assem-
bly of Maryland (Baltimore, 1883), I, II, III, V, VII, XVII,
XIX, XXVI, XXIX.
Laws of the Commonivealth of Massachusetts (Boston, 1815).
Private and Special Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachu-
setts, 1822-1830 (Boston, 1837).
The Colonial Laws of Massachusetts, with supplements 1660-1672
(Boston, 1889).
Acts and Resolves of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay (Bos-
ton, 1869), I, III.
Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in
New England (Boston, 1853), Vol. I, II, III, IV, V.
Laws of New Hampshire, Province Period, 1702-1745 (Concord,
1913), II.
Records of the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven, 1653-1665
(Hartford, 1858).
Stevens, George A. New York Typographical Union No. 6, in
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Annual Eeport, 1911, of the N'ew
York State Department of Labor.
Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York (Vol. I,
Xew York, 1905).
Colonial Laius of Neiv York (Vols. I and V, Albany, 1894).
Laivs of the State of New York Passed at the Twenty-eighth Session
of the Legislature (Albany, 1805).
Private Laws of the State of New York (Albany, 1808).
Colonial Records of North Carolina (Vols. VII, VIII, XV, XVII,
Ealeigh, 1890).
Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsyl-
vania (Harrisburg, 1824).
Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania (Vols. II, III, XII, XIII, Har-
risburg, 1908).
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
in New England (Vols. IV, VIII, and IX, Providence, 1859).
Stewart, Ethelbert. A Documentary History of the Early Organ-
izations of Printers, in Bureau of Labor Bulletin, I^To. 61
(Washington, 1905).
United States Commissioner of Labor, Report on Strikes and Lock-
outs (Washington, 1887).
Acts Passed at a General Assemhly of the Commonwealth of Vir-
ginia (Richmond, 1811).
The Statutes at Large; heinn a collection of all the Laws of Fir-
ginia (Vols. I, II, and VI, ed. by Wm. H. Hening, New
York, 1823).
652 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
II. Books, Articles and Pamphlets.
Abbott, Edith. Women in Industry (New York, 1910).
Ames, Herman V. Some Peculiar Laws and Customs of Colonial
Days, A Paper read before the Pennsylvania Society of the
Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (1905).
Anderson, A. Historical and Chronological Deductions of the Ori-
gin of Commerce (Dublin, 1790).
Babcock, Kendrick C. The Rise of American Nationality, 1811-
1819 (New York, 1906, Vol. XIII of the American Nation
Series).
Barnett, G. E. The Printers, in Publications of the American
Economic Association, October, 1909 (Vol. X, Cambridge,
Mass., 1909).
Basset, J. S. The Federalist System (New York, 1906, Vol. XI,
of the American Nation Series).
Beard, C. A. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of
the United States (New York, 1913).
Becker, C. L. Beginnings of the American People (Boston, 1915,
Vol. I of the Riverside History of the United States).
The History of Political parties in the Province of New
Yorh, University of Wisconsin Bulletin, No. 286 (Madison,
1909).
Betts, Richard K. Carpenters' Hall and Its Historic Memories
(rev. ed., published by the Company, Philadelphia, 1893).
Copy of pamphlet is in Wisconsin Historical Library Collec-
tion.
Bishop, J. L. A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to
1860 (3d ed., rev. and enlarged. Vols. I, II, III and IV, Phila-
delphia, 1868).
Bogart, E. L. The Economic History of the United States (New
York, 1907).
Bruce, R. A. Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth
Century (Vols. I and II, New York, 1896).
Biicher, Karl. Die Entstehungen der VolJcswirtschaft (Tiibingen,
1901). Industrial Evolution (translated bv S. M. Wickett,
New York, 1907).
Callender, G. S. Selections from the Economic History of the
United States, 1765-1860 (New York, 1909).
Channing, Edward. A History of the United States (Vol. Ill,
New York, 1913).
Com an, Katharine. The Industrial History of the United States
(new and rev. ed.. New York, 1910).
Commons, J. R. Lahor and Administration (New York, 1913).
Types of American Labor Organizations — The Teamsters
of Chicago, in Quarterly Jo^imal of Economics, XIX, 400.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 653
Commons and Andrews. Principles of Labor Legislation (New
York, 1916).
Coxe, Tench. A View of the United States of America (Philadel-
phia, 1794).
Dewey, Davis E. Financial History of the United States (5th ed.,
New York, 1915, American Citizen Series).
Ely, R. T. Studies in the Evolution of Industrial Society (New
York, 1903).
Engels, Frederick. The Origin of the Family, Private Property,
and the State (translated by Ernest Untermann, Chicago,
1902).
Force, Peter. Tracts and Other Papers, relating principally to the
Origin, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies in North
America (Vol. Ill, Washington, 1844).
Glocker, T. W. Trade Unionism in Baltimore before the War of
1812, in Johns Hopkins University, Circular, No. 196 (Balti-
more, April, 1907).
Hazard, Blanche E. Organization of the Boot and Shoe Industry
in Massachusetts before 1875, in Quarterly Journal of Econom-
ics, XXVII.
Hobson, J. A. The Evolution of Modern Capitalism (new and rev.
ed.. New York, 1913).
Howard, G. E. Preliminaries of the Revolution (New York, 1905,
Vol. VIII of The American Nation Series) .
Johnson, David N. Sketches of Lynn (Lynn, 1880) .
Johnson, Edward. Wonder Working Providence of Sions Saviour
in New England, in Massachusetts Historical Society, Collec-
tions (2d ser. Vol. VIII, Boston, 1826), also reprinted in
Original Narratives of Early American History (J. Franklin
Jameson, ed., New York, 1910).
Johnson, E. P., and collaborators, History of Domestic and Foreign
Commerce of the United States (2 vols., Washington, D. C,
1915).
Johnston, Henry P. New York after the Revolution, in Magazine
of American History, XXIX, 305.
Killikelly, Sarah H. The History of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh,
1906).
Lewis, Alanzo. The History of Lynn (Boston, 1829).
Lord, Eleanor L. Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies
of North America, in Johns Hopkins University Studies (extra
Vol. XVII, Baltimore, 1898).
McMaster, J. B. A History of the People of the United States
from the Revolution to the Civil War (Vols. I to V, New York,
1901).
A Century of Social Betterment, Atlantic Monthly,
LXXIX, 23.
554 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections (2d ser. Boston,
MDCCCXLVI).
Marx, Karl. Capital. (3 vols., Kerr edition, Chicago, 1909).
^ A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
(translated by N. I. Stone, New York, 1904).
Marx and Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Mease, James. The Picture of Philadelphia (Philadelphia,
1811).
Annals of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesm,en of the
City of New YorJc, from 1785 to 1880 (New York, 1882) .
Morgan, Forrest (editor-in-chief). Connecticut as a Colony and as
a State (Vol. II, Hartford, 1902).
Morgan, Lewis H. Ancient Society (New York, 1877).
New York Typographical Society. MS. Minutes (1809-1818, in
Johns Hopkins University Library).
Nystrom, P. H. The Economics of Retailing (New York, 1913) .
O'Callaghan, E. B. Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the office
of the Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y. (English Manuscripts,
Pt. II, Albany, 1866).
Pasko, W. W. American Dictionary of Printing and BooTcmalcing
(New York, 1894).
Philadelphia Typographical Society. MS. Minutes, (1802-1811,
in Johns Hopkins University Library) .
A Historical Sketch of the Philadelphia Typographical Society, in
Printers' Circular (Philadelphia, 1867).
Schm oiler, Gustav. Grundriss der Allgemeinen Y olhsivirtschafts-
lehre. Vol. II (Leipzig, 1904).
The Mercantile System and Its Historical Significance
(New York, 1896).
Seligman, E. R. A. The Economic Interpretation of History (New
York, 1912).
Simons, A. M. Social Forces in American History (New York,
1911).
Smith, Thomas E. V. The City of New York in the Year of Wash-
ington's Inauguration, 1789 (New York, 1899).
Stewart, Ethelbert. Two Forgotten Decades in the History of
Labor Organizations, 1820-181^0, in American F ederationist ,
XX, 518.
Sumner, William G. A History of American Currency (New York,
1876).
Taussig, F. W. The Tariff History of the United States (6th ed..
New York, 1914).
Turner, F. J. Rise of the New West (New York, 1906, Vol. XIV
of the American Nation Series).
Unwin, George. Industrial, Organization in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries (Oxford, 1904).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 555
Van Eensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler. History of the City of New York
in the Seventeenth Century (2 vols., New York, 1909).
Vandervelde, Emile. Collectivism and Industrial Evolution
(translated by C. H. Kerr, Chicago, 1901).
Waltershansen, A. Sartorius Freih. v. Die nordamerikanischen
Gewerkschaften, unter dem Einfluss der fortschr extend en Pro-
ductionstechnik (Berlin, 1886).
Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. The History of Trade Unionism (new
ed.. New York, 1902).
Weeden, William B. Economic and Social History of New England
(Vols. I and II, New York, 1890).
Wilson, James Grant. The Memorial History of the City of New
York (Vol. Ill, New York, 1893).
III. Papers.
The American Museum (Philadelphia), printed by Mathew Carey,
Vol. III.
Aurora and General Advertiser (Philadelphia), 1803, 1805, 1806.
Charleston City (North Carolina) Gazette, 1825.
Columbian Centinel (Boston), 1825.
Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 1791.
Federal Gazette (Baltimore), 1800.
Federal Intelligencer and Baltimore Gazette (Baltimore), 1795.
Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia), 1825.
The General Advertiser (Philadelphia), 1791.
National Advocate (New York), 1823.
National Gazette (New York), 1824.
New York Evening Post, 1825.
Niles' Weekly Register (Baltimore), 1812.
Providence (Ehode Island) Patriot, 1825.
PART II. CITIZENSHIP — 1827-1833
The secondary sources for this period are very meagre. A
history of the Working Men's party in New York was written
by one of its most prominent leaders, George Henry Evans,
and published in a monthly magazine {The Radical, 1841-
1843, " History of the Working Men's Party "). Another by
Hobart Berrian is entitled The Origin and Rise of the Work-
ing Mens Party (Washington^ n. d., ca. 1841). John B. Mc-
Master treats of the workingmen's movem^ent in his History of
the People of the United States (New York, 1900), volume
V, 84-108, but he attaches too much significance to the " in-
tellectuals " in the movement. Greorge E. McNeill in his The
556 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Labor Movement: The Prohlem of To-day (Boston, 1887) and
Professor E. T. Elj in his The Labor Movement in America
(New York, 1886) also treat at some length of the working-
men's parties of 1827 to 1833.
A brief summary of this period entitled " Labor Organi-
zations and Labor Politics, 18 27-1 8 37," based in part on the
material used by the writer, was published by Professor John
E. Commons in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1907,
XXI, 323-329. A discussion of the working class' origins of
the public school system in America, also based in part upon
this material, is contained in Frank Tracy Carlton, Economic
Influences upon Educational Progress in the United States,
1820-1850, University of Wisconsin, Bulletin, Economics and
Political Science Series, Vol. IV, No. 1 (Madison, 1908). The
Webbs' History of Trade Unionism (London, 1911) Chap. II,
102-161, deals with the contemporary movement in England,
and offers a valuable historical perspective.
By far the most valuable sources of information for this
period have been the few existing files of papers published
during these years. The newspapers and periodicals may be
roughly divided into two classes, those which were sympathetic
and those which were hostile towards the labour movement.
Among the sympathetic papers the most important were the
Baltimore Republican, the Morning Herald ^ and the Evening
Post of New York, the Pennsylvanian and the Public Ledger
of Philadelphia, the Boston Transcript,^ and the Washingtovr
icm of Washington, D. C. The chief papers opposed to the
labour movement during this period were the New York Jour-
nal of Commerce, the Philadelphia National Gazette, the Bos-
ton Courier, the Albany Argus, and the United States Tele-
graph of Washington. Other general papers which from time
to time printed labour news were Niles' Weekly Register, of
Baltimore; the American Sentinel, the Freeman's Journal, the
Democratic Press, the Free Trade Advocate, Poulsons AmeH-
can Daily Advertiser, the Pennsylvania Inquirer, the Phila-
delphia Gazette, the United States Gazette, and the Banner of
1 This was a predecessor, published in to the labour movement until 1864, when
1830, of the Herald, started by James ' it changed its attitude as the result of a
Gordon Bennett in 1835. priater?* gtrijce,
2 The Boston Tranttcript was favourable
BIBLIOGHAPHY 557
the Constitution, of Philadelphia; the Americdn, the Commer-
cial Advertiser, the Morning Courier and New York Enquirer,
and the Mercury, of I^ew York; the Independent Chronicle
and Boston Pa>triot, the Chronicle, the Columbian Centinel,
the Daily Advertiser and Patriot, the People's Magazine, and
the New England Weekly Review, of Boston ; the Mercury and
Journal, of Lowell; the Troy Farmers Register; and the
Kochester Craftsman and Examiner. The amount of attention
given to the movement hy the contemporary press proves that
it loomed large in the everyday life of the times.
More or less complete files of ten lahour papers which ap-
peared during this period have been located and examined.
Of these six belong exclusively to the years of political activity
before 1832 ; one was published during these years and also
during the later trade union movement; and three of lesser
importance — The Co-operator, of Utica, 1832-1833, the State
Herald; the Manufacturers' and Mechanics' Advocate, of Ports-
mouth, 'New Hampshire, 1831-1833, and the Working Men's
Shield of Cincinnati, 1832-1833, — belong to the period just
after the political movement had disappeared. The New York
Anti-Auctioneer, 1828, was a campaign sheet published by a
political organisation of master mechanics.
The first distinctly labour paper ever published in the United
States, and perhaps the first in the world, was the Journeyman
Mechanics' Advocate, started in Philadelphia in June or July,
1827.^ It appears, however, to have been short lived, and the
first labour paper of which any numbers are now in existence
is the Mechanics' Free Press, which was first published on
January 12, 1828, in Philadelphia. Even this antedated by
two years the first issue of a similar journal in England.* The
earliest number preserved is dated April 12, 1828, and the
latest April 3, 1831, when a change of management was an-
nounced. The paper was still in existence as late as October,
1831,^ but it was then said to have " become degenerate."
The most important of the labour papers published during
the political movement, of which files have been preserved, was
i Democratic Press (Philadelphia), 5 New York Working Man's Advocate,
June 20, 1827. Oct. 8, 1831.
4 Webb, History of Trade "Unionism in
England, 107.
558 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
The Working Man's Advocate, of New York, the first number
of which was issued on October 31, 1829, and which was edited
from that date until 1836 by George H. Evans, the prominent
land reformer. During 1830 a daily edition was published
under the title New York Daily Sentinel, and a semi-weekly,
a few numbers of which are preserved, under the title New
York Daily Sentinel and Working Man's Advocate.
The Delaware Free Press, published at Wilmington, Dela-
ware, during 1830 and perhaps later, was in part a free-thought
publication and in part an organ of the workingmen's political
movement of that State. It quoted from labour papers in other
sections and was in turn quoted by them.
The other four labour papers published during the political
period of which copies have been found are the Working Man's
Gazette of Woodstock, Vermont, 1830-1831, a small weekly;
the Mechanics' Press of Utica, 1829-1830 ; the Farmers', Me-
chanics' and Workingmen's Advocate of Albany, 1830-1831,
and the New York Free Enquirer, 1828-1835,^ The latter,
though primarily a free-thought publication, also distinctly
championed the workingmen's party, as did both of its chief
editors during its early years, Frances Wright and Robert Dale
Owen.
Echoes of the Citizenship Period are also found in the
labour press of the succeeding trade union period, in The Man,
1834-1835, and the National Trades' Union, 1834-1836, of
New York; the National Laborer, 1836-1837, and the Rad-
ical Reformer and Working Man's Advocate, 1835, of Phila-
delphia.
But the labour papers of this period which have been pre-
served are few in comparison with those which have been lost.
From various sources a list has been secured of seventy-four
labour or professedly labour papers supposed to have been is-
sued between 1827 and 1837, i.e., during the political period
and the ensuing trade union period. Of these, twenty-two may
be considered as doubtful, that is, either as established papers
which took up the workingmen's cause only by way of tem-
porary protest or as mere impostors designed to divide the
workingmen. Fifty-two true labour papers, however, one or
6 The Free Enquirer contained labour news only during 1829-1832.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 559
more numbers of which are positively known to have been issued,
are completely lost. This list includes all of the labour papers
published at Boston, Baltimore, and Washington. It includes,
moreover, papers published in all parts of the country, from
New York to Cincinnati and from Portland, Maine, to Charles-
ton, South Carolina.
A helpful source of information was a collection of scrap-
books of newspaper clippings made between 1828 and 1839
by Mathew Carey, the father of the economist and the first
American investigator and ardent champion of working women.
This collection is preserved in the Kidgway Branch of the Li-
brary Company in Philadelphia under the general title Carey's
Excerpta, Select Excerpta or Scraps. Unfortunately these
clippings are undated and are not even labelled with the names
of the papers from which they were taken.
Public Documents, Books and Pamphlets.
Address of the Association of Mechanics and Other Working Men of
the City of Washington to the Operatives throughout the
United States (Washington, printed at the office of the National
Journal by Wm. Duncan, 1830) .
Address of the General Executive Committee of the Mechanics and
Other Worhing Men of the City of New Yorh, read at a Gen-
eral Meeting of Working Men held at West Chester House,
Bowery (New York, 1830).
Address of the Majority of the General Executive Committee of the
Mechanics and Other Working Men of the City of New York
(New York, 1830).
Beard, C. A. Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy (New
York, 1915).
Bourne, W. 0. History of the Public School Society of the City
of New York (New York, 1879). ... ' .
Bradford, Alden. Biographical Notices of Distinguished Men in
New England (Boston, 1842).
Commons, J. E. ''Junior Republic/* American Journal of Sociol-
ogy, November, 1897, and January, 1898.
Evans, F. W. Autobiography of a Shaker (Mount Lebanon, New
York, 1869).
Gilbert, Amos. Memoirs of Frances Wright (Cincinnati, 1855).
Greeley, H. Recollections of a Busy Life (New York, 1868).
Luther, Seth. An Address to the Working Men of New England
(Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1832).
560 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
McMaster, J. B. The Acquisition of Political, Social and Indus-
trial Rights of Man in America (Cleveland, 1903).
Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Eleventh Annual
Report, "Strikes in Massachusetts" (Boston, 1880).
Montgomery, James A. Practical Detail of the Cotton Manufac-
ture of the United States of America (New York, 1840).
Owen, Robert Dale. Threading My Way (New York, 1874).
Paine, Thomas. Agrarian Justice as Opposed to Agrarian Law
and to Agrarian Monopoly (London, 1797).
Pennsylvania Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth,
"Militia Law of 1822," (Harrisburg,'l822).
Pierce, F. C. Foster Genealogy (Chicago, 1899).
Political Essays, October 1, 1831, by the New York Association for
Gratuitous Distribution of Discussions on Political Economy.
Prison Discipline Society. Reports, 1829-1835 (Boston).
Public School Society of New York, Twenty-seventh and Twenty-
eighth Annual Reports of the Trustees (1832-1833).
Proceedings of a Meeting of Mechanics and Other Worhing
Men Held at New York on December 29, 1829 (New York,
1830).
Proceedings of the Working Men's Convention (Boston, 1833).
Proceedings of the Working Men's State Convention at Salina,
New York (Auburn, New York, 1830).
Report on the Production and Manufacture of Cotton, by the Con-
vention of the Friends of Domestic Industry (New York,
1832).
Richardson, James D. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers
of the Presidents, 1789-1897 (Vols. II and III, Washington,
1896).
Secrist, H. "^ The Anti-Auction Movement of 1828," Annals of
Wisconsin Academy, Vol. XVII, No. 2.
Sharpless, Isaac. Two Centuries of Pennsylvania History (Phila-
delphia, 1909).
Skidmore, Thomas. The Rights of Man to Property (New York,
1829).
•Sumner, H. L. "History of Women in Industry in the United
States," Sen. Doc, 61st Cong. 2d sess. No. 645 (Washington,
1910).
Thorpe, F. N. The Federal and State Constitutions (Washington,
1909).
To the Working Men of New England (Boston, Aug. 11, 1832).
Trumbull, Levi R. A. History of Industrial Paterson (Paterson,
New Jersey, 1882).
United States Bureau of Labor. Report on Condition of Woman
and Child Wage Earners, Vol. IX.
United States Census, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1910.
BIBLIOGEAPHY 561
Whitcomb, Samuel, Jr. Address Before the Working Men's Society
of Dedham (Boston, 1831).
"Wright, Frances. Views of Society and Manners in America
(London, 1821).
Young, John E. Memorial History of the City of Philadelphia
(2 vols., New York, 1895, 1898).
PART III. TRADE UNIONISM, 1833-1839
The history of the movement contained in these chapters is
based almost entirely upon the labour papers that sprang up
with it. The IsTew York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore trades'
unions established papers of their own; the Boston Trades'
Union chose the New England Artisan, the organ of the ^New
England Association of Farmers, Mechanics, and Other Work-
ing Men, as its official paper; and the Washington Trades'
Union published its minutes in the Washingtonian. The 'Ns,-
tional Trades' Union had its official organ in the National
Trades' Union, sl weekly, established in 'New York City in
1834, and published during this and the following year by
Ely Moore, president of the organisation, and the first labour
member of Congress.
Unfortunately the New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore
trades' union papers are among the twenty-one or more labour
papers published from 1833 to 1839 that have not been lo-
cated. Their loss is partly compensated, however, in the pos-
session of other trades' union papers, some of which begin
where others ended, thus making the story more or less com-
plete. The New York Union did not appear until 1836, but
before that time the Trades' Union published its proceedings
in the National Trades' Union, which has been preserved by
Ely Moore, of Lawrence, Kansas, a son of the editor, and
which constitutes an invaluable source of information not only
for the Trades' Union of ISTew York City, but for the Na-
tional Trades' Union and the trade union movement at large.
The Philadelphia Trades' Union was started in 1834 and
probably ran until 1836, when the National Laborer appeared.
The latter paper was published from March, 1836, to March,
1837, by the N'ational Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge, and edited by Thomas Hogan, president of the
562 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Trades^ Union during a part of this time. The Baltimore
Trades' Union was probably not started until 1836, but the
record of the organisation it represented is partly preserved in
a friendly paper, the Baltimore Republican and Commercial
Advertiser.
Other labour papers, not necessarily trades' union papers,
published during the time were the Radical Reformer and
Working Mans Advocate in Philadelphia in 1835, the Work-
ing Mans Advocate in New York from 1829 to 1836, and TJie
Man in the same city during 1834 and 1835. The Man was a
daily penny paper and together with the Working Man's Advo-
cate was published by George Henry Evans.
Valuable sources of information are also the papers friendly
to labour at this time. These were the Baltimore Republican
and Commercial Advertiser, already mentioned, the Pennsyl-
vanian, and the Public Ledger of Philadelphia, and the Morn-
ing Courier and New York Enquirer, the Evening Post, the
Plaindealer and the New Era of New York.
The hostile papers also throw some light on the movement,
particularly the Boston Courier, the New York Journal of
Commerce, the Albany Argus, the Philadelphia National Ga-
zette and Literary Register, and the Washington United States
Telegraph.
Other papers consulted, of a more general character were
the Essex Tribune, the Lynn Record, the Boston Transcript, the
Evening Transcript, American, Commercial Advertiser, and
Daily Advertiser of New York, Hazard's Register of Phila-
delphia, Niles' Weekly Register of Baltimore, and the Com-
mercial Bulletin and Missouri Literary Register of St. Louis.
Papers which properly belong to the political period, 1827-
1833, were also referred to. These are the Delaware Free
Press, published in Wilmington, Delaware, during 1830, the
New York Daily Sentinel and Working Man's Advocate, a
semi-weekly edition of the Working Man's Advocate published
during the same year, and particularly the Mechanics' Free
Press published in Philadelphia from 1828 to 1831.^
In addition to volumes V and VI of the Documentary His-
tory of American Industrial Society, edited by Professor Com-
1 For a fuller account of these papers, see Bibliography: Citizenship, 1827-1833,
455 «t «eg.
BIBLIOGKAPHY 663
mons and Helen L. Sumner, the only other collection of orig-
inal sources is Ethelbert Stewart's Documentary History of
Early Organizations of Printers.^ The principal secondary
source is Bamett's exhaustive treatise, The Printers, A Study
in American Trade Unionism.^ Evans Woollen, in Labor
Troubles Between 183 Jf and 1837 ^ discusses the labour prob-
lems of the time, but hardly mentions the organisations de-
scribed here.
I. Public Documents.
Documents Relative to the Manufactures in the United States,
House Document, 22 Cong., I sess., No. 3081 (1803).
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1828-1829.
Manual of Councils of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1907-1908).
Messages and Papers of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1907-1908).
Messages and Papers of Presidents, 1789-1897, III. Miscellan-
eous Documents of the House of Eepresentatives (1895).
Revised Statutes of New York, 1829.
Stewart, Ethelbert. A Documentary History of the Early Organ-
izations of the Printers, in Bulletin of the United States De-
partment of Labor, XI, 857-1033 (1905).
Report of the Commissioners Appointed by the Governor un-
der the " Act Concerning State Prisons/' Assembly Document
(New York, 1835), No. 135.
Report of the Commissioners on the Penal Code of Pennsylvania, in
Senate Journal, 1827-1828.
Report of Gershom Powers, Agent and Keeper of the State Prison
at Auburn to the Legislature, Assembly Document (Albany,
1828), No. 135.
United States Bureau of Labor, Sixteenth Annual Report, " Strikes
and Lockouts'' (1887).
United States Census, 1880. History and Present Condition of
the Newspaper and Periodical Press of the United States.
United States Census, 1880. Eeport on the Agencies of Transpor-
tation in the United States.
United States House Journal, 24 Cong. 1st sess. (1835).
United States Immigration Commission. Report, Sen. Doc, 61
Cong., 3d sess., No. 750, IX, XXXIX.
United States Secretary of the Treasury on the State of Finances.
Report, 1827-1838, 1863.
United States Senate Document, 24 Cong. 2d sess.. No. 5, " Immi-
gration'^ (Washington, 1836).
2 United States Department of Labor, 3 American Economic Association Quar-
Bulletin, 1905. Vol. XI. terly, 1909, 3rd ser., VoL X.
4 Yale Review, 1892, pp. 87-100.
564 HISTOKY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
United States. Statistical Abstract, 1915.
Wright, Carroll D. Report on the Factory System in the United
States, United States Census, 1880, II.
II. Books and Pamphlets.
Abbott, Edith. Women in Industry (New York and London,
1910).
Bogart, E. L. The Economic History of the United States (New
York, 1907).
;pyrdsall, F. The History of the Loco-Foco or EqvM Rights Party
(New York, 1842).
Commonwealth v. Hunt, Thacher's Criminal Cases; 4 Metcalf III.
Carey, M. Appeal to the Wealthy of the Land (Philadelphia,
1833).
Coggeshall, William T. An Essay on Newspapers, Historical and
Statistical, read before the Ohio Historical Association at
Zanesville, January 17, 1855 (Columbus, Ohio, 1855).
Coman, Katharine. The Industrial History of the United States
(New York, 1905).
Derby, J. C. Fifty Years among Authors, Books and Publishers
(New York, 1884).
Desmond, H. J. The Know-Nothing Party (Washington, 1905).
Dewey, D. E. Financial History of the United States (New York,
1905).
Finch, John. Rise and Progress of the General Trades' Union of
the City of New York and its Vicinity, with an Address to the
Mechanics of the City of New York and Throughout the
United States (New York, 1833, Pamphlet).
Harper, Henry J. The House of Harper (New York and London,
1912).
Hudson, Frederick. Journalism in the United States, from 1690
to 1872 (New York, 1873).
Journeymen Cabinet-Makers of the City of Philadelphia. Consti-
tution (Philadelphia, 1829).
Kerr, E. W. Government Printing Office ivith a Brief Record of
the Public Printing for a Century, 1789-1881 (Lancaster, Pa.,
1881).
Knox, John J. History of Banking in the United States (New
York, 1900).
Laws of the State of New York, 1785, 1795, 1805, 1815, 1825,
1835, 1836.
Luther, Seth. Address to the Working Men of Neiu England (Bos-
ton, 1832).
Myers, Gustavus. The History of Tammany Hall (New York,
1901).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 565
National Typographical Society. Proceedings, together with the
Constitution for a National Typographical Society (Washing-
ton, 1836).
On the Prisons of Philadelphia, by An European (Philadelphia,
1796).
One Hundred Years of Publishing, 1785-1885 (Philadelphia,
1885).
People V. Fisher et al., 14 Wendell 10 (1835).
Poor, Henry V. Manual of Railroads of the United States (New
York, 1881).
Prison Discipline Society, Board of Managers, Annual Report,
1827-1835 (Boston).
Proceedings of the Government and Citizens of Philadelphia on the
Reduction of the Hours of Labor and Increase of Wages (Bos-
ton, 1835, Pamphlet).
Putnam, G. H. George Palmer Putnam, A Memoir (New York
and London, 1912).
Report on the Production and Manufacture of Cotton, 1832, New
York Convention of the Friends of Domestic Industry.
Scharf, J. T. Chronicles of Baltimore (Baltimore, 1874).
Schouler, James S. History of the United States of America (New
York, 1908-1913).
Tanner, H. S. A' Description of the Canah and Rail Roads of the
United States (New York, 1840).
United States. Reports of the .Secretary of the Treasury, 1829-
1844.
White, George S. Memoirs of Samuel Slater, the Father of Ameri-
can Manufactures, connected with a History of the Rise and
Progress of the Cotton Manufacture in England and America
(Philadelphia, 1836).
Winsor, Justin. Memorial History of Boston (Boston, 1881), III.
III. General Papers.
Albany Argus, semi-weekly, 1833-1837.
American (New York), daily, 1836.
American Sentinel (Philadelphia), daily, 1833-1835.
Baltimore Republican and Commercial Advertiser, daily, 1833-
1839.
Banner of the Constitution (Washington, New York, Philadelphia),
weekly, 1829-1832.
Columbian Centinel (Boston), 1829.
Commercial Bulletin and Missouri Literary Register (St. Louis),
weekly, 1835.
Courier (Boston), daily, 1833-1839.
Daily Evening Transcript (Boston), 1833-1836.
66C HISTORY OF LABOUR m THE UNITED STATES
Democratic Press (Philadelphia), daily, 1829.
Evening Post (New York), daily, 1835-1839.
Evening Transcript (New York), daily, 1834-1836.
Lynn Record, daily, 1834.
Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, daily, 1833-1836.
National Gazette and Literary Register (Philadelphia), semi-
weekly, 1838-1839.
New Era (New York), weekly, 1837.
New York Journal of Commerce, daily, 1833-1839.
Niles' Weekly Register (Baltimore), 1835-1838.
Pennsylvanian (Philadelphia), daily, 1835-1838.
Plaindealer (New York), weekly, 1836.
Poulsons American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 1828-1833.
Public Ledger (Philadelphia), daily, 1836-1838.
Register of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), daily, 1833-1839.
United States Telegraph (Washington), semi-weekly, 1834-1835.
Washingtonian, daily, 1836.
The following labour papers have been preserved: (See the
Bibliography for the preceding period for a fuller statement on
the labour papers during the thirties.)
Delaware Free Press, weekly, 1830.
Co-operator (Utica, N. Y.), weekly, 1832-1833.
Mechanics Free Press (Philadelphia), weekly, 1828-1831.
The Man (New York), weekly, 1834-1835.
National Laborer (Philadelphia), weekly, 1836-1837.
National Trades' Union (New York), weekly, 1836-1837.
Radical Reformer and Working Man's Advocate (Philadelphia),
weekly, 1836.
Working Man's Advocate (New York), weekly, 1829-1836.
PART IV. HUMANITARIANISM
The bibliography of this period consists chiefly of contem-
porary sources, many of which are quoted in the Documentary
History of American Industrial Society. These contemporary
sources may be roughly divided into three classes: the news-
paper press, the reform press, and public documents.
The newspaper press, then as now, contained current news
items which, taken together, afford a fairly definite picture of
the economic conditions of the time and of the labour and re-
form movements which were initiated for the purpose of chang-
BIBLIOGEAPHY 567
ing these conditions. A part of the press, such as the 'New
York Herald, opposed all reforms and reformers and tolerated
organisations of the workers themselves only as the lesser of
two evils ; a much larger part were indifferent chroniclers, with-
out criticism or approval, of the events which happened in in-
dustrial life from day to day ; and a few, led by the New York
Tribune, not only served as open forums for all of the isms
of the time, but took an active editorial stand on many of the
labour issues which arose during the period.
The reform press was as varied in content as the issues
which they advocated. Each new ism was heralded by a paper,
a pamphlet, or a book. Like the reforms which they advocated,
the papers were short-lived ; the series of pamphlets were equally
short; and the books serve as monuments or as milestones, ac-
cording as they were entirely forgotten or helped to influence
the public opinion which crystallised into action then or later.
The Worhing Mans Advocate and the Repuhlik der Arheiter
are good examples of reform papers. The Proceedings of the
Industrial Congress of any given year illustrate the propa-
gandist pamphlets of the time. Of the reform publications
which attained the dignity of books, Albert Brisbane's The
Social Destiny of Man, or Association and Reorganisation of
Industry (Philadelphia, 1840) and E. Kellogg's Labor and
Other Capital; the Rights of Each Secured and the Wrongs
of Both Eradicated (New York, 1849) serve aS examples.
Public documents referred to in this section consist chiefly
of legislative reports such as the New York Assembly Jourrwl
for a given year of the Laws of the state in question. A few
special documentary reports were consulted, such as the Report
of the Committee on Internal Health (Boston City Document,
No. 66, 1849).
Trade union records of the period are not numerous and
consist mainly of the minutes of the meetings of local organisa-
tions. None of these is in separate published form.
Secondary sources consist of biographical publications such
as Horace Greeley's Recollections of^ a Busy Life (New York,
1868) ; and special historical treatises like Gustavus Myers'
History of Tammany Hall (New York, 1901), and Herman
668 HISTOKY OF LABOUE IN THE UNITED STATES
Schliiter's Die Anfdnge der deutschen Arheiterhewegung in
AmeriJca (Stuttgart, 1907). The secondary literature of the
period is very limited.
I. Public Documents.
Commissioner of Labor. Ninth Annnal Report, 1893, " Building
and Loan Associations."
Laws of California, 1853.
Laws of Maine, 1848.
Laws of New Hampshire, 1847.
Laws of New York, 1853.
Laws of Ohio, 1852.
Jjau^s of Pennsylvania, 1848, 1855.
Laws of Ehode Island, 1853.
" Co-operation in Massachusetts," in Massachusetts Bureau of
Labor Statistics, Report, 1877, pp. 51-137.
Massachusetts House Documents, Nos. 50 and 81, 1845.
Massachusetts House Reports, 1853, No. 122; 1855, No. 180.
Massachusetts Senate Document, 1855, No. 107.
New Hampshire Bureau of Labor, Report, 1894.
New Hampshire House Journal, 1846.
New Hampshire Senate Journal, 1847.
" The Policy of Our Labor Organisations," in New Jersey Bureau
of Labor, Report, 1887, pp. 77-86.
New York Assembly Document, 1848, No. 78.
New York Assembly Journal, 1847, 1848, 1850, 1852, and 1853.
Pennsylvania House Journal (1846).
Pennsylvania Senate Journal, 1837.
Ehode Island Report of an Investigation into Child Labor, 1853.
Wisconsin Assemhly Journal, 1848 and 1851.
Wisconsin Senate Journal, 1849.
II. Books and Pamphlets.
Andrews, Stephen P. Cost the Limit of Price (New York, 1852).
— True Constitution of Government (New York, 1882).
Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.
Arthur, P. M. " Else of Eailway Organization," in George E. Mc-
Neill, The Labor Movement (Boston, 1887), 312ff.
Bailie, William. Josiah Warren (Boston, 1906).
Bartlett, D. W. Modern Agitators (New York, 1856).
Bemis, E. W. Co-operation in New England, in American Eco-
nomic Association, Publications (Baltimore, 1886).
Brisbane, Albert. Concise Exposition of the Doctrine of Associa-
tion (New York, 1844).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 569
Brisbane, Albert. Social Destiny of Man (Philadelphia, 1840).
A Mental Biography by His Wife (Boston, 1893).
Bromwell, William T. History of Immigration (New York, 1856) .
Brownson, Henry F. Orestes Brownsons Early Life (Detroit,
1898).
Brownson, Orestes. Collected Worhs (Detroit, 1882-1907).
' The Convert, or Leaves from My Experience (New York,
1857).
The Labouring Classes," in Boston Quarterly Review,
1840, III.
Butterfield, C. W. History of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin
(Chicago, 1880).
Campbell, John. A Theory of Equality; or, the Way to Make
Every Man Act Honestly (Philadelphia, 1848).
Negro-Mania (Philadelphia, 1851).
Clark, F. C. "A Neglected Socialist," in American Academy of
Political and Social Science, Annals, 1894-1895, Y, 718-739.
Commons, J. R. " An Idealistic Interpretation of History," in
Labor and Administration (New York, 1913) ; same, entitled
" Horace Greeley and the Working Class Origins of the Repub-
lican Party," in Political Science Quarterly, 1909, XXIV, 468-
488.
Cooke, G. W. The Poets of Transcendentalism (Boston, 1903).
Curtis. " Report " in Transactions of the American Medical Asso-
ciation (Boston, 1849).
Curtis, Francis. History of the Republican Party (2 vols.. New
York, 1904).
Devyr, Thomas A. Our National Rights (n. p., n. d.).
" Dwellings and Schools for the Poor," in North American Review,
1852, LXXIV, 464-489.
Ely, R. T. French and German Socialism (New York, 1883).
Evans, F. W. Autobiography of a Shaker (Mount Lebanon, N. Y.,
1869).
Forney, J. W. Anecdotes of Public Men (New York, 1873-1881).
Kellogg, Edward. Labor and Other Capital: the Rights of Each
Secured and Wrongs of Both Eradicated (New York, 1849).
Kingsbury, Susan. Labor Laws and their Enforcement, with Spe-
cial Reference to Massachusetts (New York, 1911).
Lockwood, G. B. The New Harmony Movement (New York,
1905).
Masquerier, Lewis. Sociology: or the Reconstruction of Society,
Government, and Property (New York, 1877).
Minutes of the Cigar Maker^s Society of Baltimore, 1856. In
Library of Johns Hopkins University.
Myers, Gustavus. History of Tammany Hall (New York, 1901).
Murray, David. "The Anti-Rent Episode in the State of New
570 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
York/' in Annual Report of the American Historical Society,
1896, I, 139-173.
National Cotton Mule Spinners' Association of America, Constitu-
tion and By-laws (1890).
Noyes, John H. History of American Socialisms (Philadelphia,
1870).
Parton, James. The Life of Horace Greeley (Boston, 1872).
Persons, C. E. "The Early History of Factory Legislation in
Massachusetts: From 1825 to the Passage of the Ten-Hour
Law in 1874," in Labor Laws and their Enforcement, with
special reference to Massachusetts (New York, 1911), 1-124.
Schliiter, Herman. Lincoln, Labor and Slavery (New York,
1913).
Podmore, E. P. Robert Owen (2 vols., London, 1906).
Weitling, Wilhelm. Das Evangelium eines armen Sunders (Bern,
1845).
Garantien der Harmonie und Freiheit (New York, 1879).
Wrigley, Edward. The Working Man's Way to Wealth (Philadel-
phia, 1872).
III. Papers.
The Awl (Lynn, Mass.), weekly, 1844-1846.
Bee (Albany), daily, 1845.
Pittsburgh Chronicle, daily, 1850.
Pittsburgh Daily Commercial Journal, 1848.
New York Evening Post, 1841.
New York Globe, daily, 1850.
Harbinger (Boston and New York), weekly, 1845-1849.
New York Herald, daily, 1850.
Mechanic (F^ll River), weekly, 1844.
The Herald of the New Moral World (New York), weekly, 1841.
Nonpareil (Cincinnati), weekly, 1851.
Philadelphia North American and United States Gazette, daily,
1854.
People's Paper (Cincinnati), weekly, 1843.
Phalanx (New York), weekly, 1843-1845; continued as Harbinger.
Public Ledger (Philadelphia), daily, 1844-1848.
Pittsburgh Daily Morning Post, 1848-1849, 1853.
Quaker City (Philadelphia), daily, 1849.
Die Reform (New York), weekly, 1853-1854.
Republik der Arbeiter (New York), weekly, 1850-1855.
Spirit of the Age (New York), weekly, 1849-1850.
Baltimore Sun, daily, 1855.
New York Sun, daily, 1853.
New York Times, daily, 1853-1857.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 571
New York Tribune, daily, 1842-1857.
New York WeeJcly Tribune, 1845-1853.
Voice of Industry (Fitchburg and Lowell, Mass.), weekly, 1845-
1847.
VolJcs-Tribun (New York), weekly, 1846.
Working Mans Advocate (New York), weekly, 1844-1848.
Young America (New York), weekly, 1845-1848.
PART V. NATIONALISATION, 1858-1877
The secondary sources are George E. McNeill, The Labor
Movement — The Problem of To-day, especially chapter V,
" The Progress of the Movement From 1861-1886 " ; also T.
V. Powderly in Thirty Years of Labor (Columbus, Ohio, 1889),
18-130. Excellent accounts are found also in K. T. Ely, The
Tjabor Movement in America, 69-91, and in a series of articles
by E. A. Sorge, in the Neue Zeit (Stuttgart), 1890-1891, II,
397, 438; 1891-1892, I, 69, 110, 172, 206, 651.
This period witnessed the establishment of a labour press
upon a lasting foundation. No less than one hundred and
twenty daily, weekly and monthly journals of labour reform
appeared during the decade 1863-1873.^ Finchers Trades'
Review, Philadelphia, 1863-1866, was the paramount trade
union paper and perhaps the most influential paper of the en-
tire period. The labour organ of the West, the Chicago Worh-
ingmans Advocate, 1864-1876, laid particular stress on labour
politics. The Boston Daily Evening Voice, 1864-1867, was
the organ of the New England labour movement with its em-
phasis on shorter hours. The files of the Worhingmans Ad-
vocate contain the proceedings of all the annual conventions of
the National Labor Union, which are reproduced in Vol. IX
of the Documentary History of American Industrial Society.^
I. Public Documents.
Chinese Immigration. An address to the people of the Uilited
States on the social, moral and political effect of Chinese im-
migration. Prepared by a committee of the Senate of Cali-
fornia. 45th Congress, 1st sess., House Miscellaneous Docu-
ment, No. 9.
1 Doc. Hist., X, 142. the labour press is to be found in Chapter
2 A more comprehensive description of II of Part V, II, 15 et acq.
572 HISTOEY OF LABOUK IIST THE TJISriTED STATES
California Laws, 1865-1866, 1868.
Commonwealth v. John Kehoe et al. (Pott&ville, 1876).
Connecticut Laws, 1867.
First Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Columbus,
Ohio, 1878).
House Journal, 29th Cong., 1st sess. ; 39th Cong., 1st sess.
Illinois Public Laws, 1867.
Industrial Commission Report (Washington, 1901), VII and XVII.
In Matter Jacobs, 98 New York 98 (1895).
Massachusetts Acts and Resolves, 1866.
Massachusetts House Documents, 1865, No. 259; 1866, No. 98;
1867, No. 44.
Missouri Laivs, 1867.
Ninetieth General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, Minutes
of Votes and Proceedings (1866).
New York Laivs, 1867.
Ohio House Journal, 1866.
Pennsylvania Report (Harrisburg, 1878), of the Joint Special
Committee of the Legislature of Pennsylvania on Contract
Convict Labor, with accompanying Testimony. January 16,
1878.
Pennsylvania House Journal, 1866.
Report (Harrisburg, 1878) of Committee appointed by the Penn-
sylvania General Assembly to investigate the Eailroad Riots in
July, 1877.
Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Report on Relations
between Capital and Labor (Washington, 1885), I.
United States Bureau of Education Circulars of Information
(Washington, 1872), "Relation of Education to Labor."
United States Session Laws, 38th Cong., 1st sess. ; 41st Cong., 1st
United States Session Laws, 41st Cong., 1st sess.. Appendix.
United States Statutes at Large, 37th Gong., 2d sess.
United States Statutes at Large, 38th Cong., 1st sess.
United States Statutes at Large, 40th Cong., 2d sess.
United States Statutes at Large, 42d Cong., 2d sess., Appendix.
Wisconsin Laws, 1867.
Wholesale Prices, 1890-1912, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin,
No. 114 (Washington, 1913).
Wright, Carroll D. Apprenticeship System in its Relation to In-
dustrial Education, United States Bulletin of Education, No.
6 (Washington, 1908).
Young, Edward. Labor in Europe and America: a special report
on the Rates of Wages, the Cost of Subsistence, and the Condi-
tion of the Worhing Classes (Washington, 1875). United
States Treasury Department, Bureau of Statistics.
BIBLIOGKAPHY 573
II. Books and Pamphlets
Archcroffs Railway Directory (New York, 1865).
Bemis, E. W. " Co-operation in New England," in American Eco-
nomic Association, Publications (Baltimore, 1886-1887), I,
335-464. Also in Johns Hopkins University Studies (Balti-
more, 1888), VI.
Campbell, Alexander C. The True American System of Finance
(Chicago, 1864).
The True Greenbach, or the Way to Pay the National
Debt without Taxes and Emancipate Labor (Chicago, 1868).
Chamberlain, E. M. Sovereigns of Industry (Boston, 1875).
Cigar Makers' International IJnion, Proceedings, 1864, 1865, 1866,
1867. Typewritten Kecord at Johns Hopkins University
Library.
Cooper, Peter. " Autobiography,'' in Old South Leaflets (Boston,
1904). General Series, VI, No. 147.
Coopers' International Union, Proceedings, 1871 (Cleveland,
1871).
Coulter, J. L. " Organizations among the Farmers of the United
States," in Yale Review, 1909, XVIII, 277-298.
Crowe, Robert. The Reminiscences of R. Crowe, the Octogenarian
Tailor (New York, 1903).
Daeus, J. A. Annals of the Great Strikes in the United States
(Chicago, 1877).
Dewees, F. P. The Molly Maguires (Philadelphia, 1877).
Famam, H. "W. " Die Amerikanischen Gewerkvereine," in Schrif-
ten des Vereins fur Socialpolitih (Leipzig, 1879), XVIII.
Fitch, J, A. " Unionism in the Iron and Steel Industry," in Po-
litical Science Quarterly, 1909, XXIV, 57-79.
Gladden, "Washington. Working people and their employers (Bos-
ton, 1876).
Greene, William B. Mutual Banking: Showing the Radical Defi-
ciency of the Present Circulating Medium (Boston, 1870).
Socialistic, Communistic, Materialistic and Financial
Fragments (Boston, 1875).
Harper, Ida Husted. Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (2
vols., Indianapolis and Kansas City, 1898-1899).
Heywood, Ezra Hoar. The Great Strike (Princeton, Mass., 1878).
Yours or Mine (Princeton, Mass., 1876).
International Iron Molders' Union, Proceedings, 1864, 1865, 1867,
1868 (Philadelphia).
Kelley, Oliver Hudson. Origin and Progress of the order of the
Patrons of Husbandry in the United States; a history from
1866 to 1873 (Philadelphia, 1875).
Kennedy, J. B. "Beneficiary Features of American Trade Un-
5Y4 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
ions," in Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1908),
XXVI.
Knox, J. J. United States Notes (New York, 1888).
Grand International Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, Proceedings, 1864 (Indianapolis, 1864).
Grand International Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, Minutes (Rochester, N. Y., 1866), Special Session,
Rochester, June, 1866.
Grand International Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, Minutes (Fort Wayne, Ind., 1867), Cincinnati,
October, 1867.
Grand International Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, Minutes (FJort Wayne, 1868), Chicago, October,
1868.
McCabe, James. History of the Grange Movement (Chicago,
1874).
National Union of Machinists and Blacksmiths of the United
States of America, Proceedings (New York, 1868), Baltimore,
November, 1860.
International Union of Machinists and Blacksmiths of the United
States of America, Proceedings (Philadelphia, 1862), Pitts-
burgh, 1861.
McNeill, George E. Factory Children (Boston, 1875).
Martin, E. W. History of the Great Riots (Philadelphia, 1877).
Mitchell, W. C. " Gold, Prices and Wages under the Greenback
Standard," in Universitv of California Publications (Berkeley,
1908).
Motley, J. M. " Apprenticeship in American Trade Unions,"
Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1907),
XXV.
National Labor Union, Proceedings (Philadelphia, 1868), New
York, 1868.
New York Chamher of Commerce, Special Reports, 1864-1865.
Orvis, John. A plan for the Organization and Management of
Co-operative Stores and Boards of Trade under the Auspices
of the Order of Sovereigns of Industry (Worcester, Mass.,
1876).
Penny, Virginia. Five hundred Employments adapted to Women,
Married or Single with the Average Rate of Pay in each
(Philadelphia, n. d.).
Phillips, Wendell. The Foundation of the Labor Movement. The
Tjabor Inertia (Boston, 1871).
Ijtthor Question (Boston, 1884).
Speech to the working men of Boston and Vicinity (Nov.
2,1885).
Speeches, Lectures and Letters (2d ser., Boston, 1891).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 575
Pinkerton, A. Strikes, Communists, Tramps and Detectives (New
York, 1900).
Rhodes, J. F. History of the United States (New York, 1895),
III.
"Molly Maguires in the Anthracite Region of Pennsyl-
vania," in American Historical Review, 1909-1910, XY, 547-
561.
Rogers, Edward H. Autobiography. Manuscript in possession of
the American Bureau of Industrial Research, Madison, Wis.
Eight Hours a Day's Worh (Boston, 1872).
Roy, A. History of the Coal Miners of the tfnited States (Colum-
bus, Ohio, 1902).
Shaw, Albert. " Co-operation in a Western City," in American
Economic Association, Publications (Baltimore, 1886-1887) ;
also in Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1888),
Spencer, E. E. Address before Prospect Union (n. p., 1895).
Steward, Ira. The Eight-Hour Movement (Boston, 1865).
Poverty (Boston, 1873).
Sylvis, J. C. The Life, Speeches, Labors and Essays of William
H. Sylvis (Philadelphia, 1872).
International Typographical Union, Proceedings (Detroit, 1864),
of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth sessions, held at New York,
Cleveland, and Louisville, Kentucky, May 5, 1862, May 4,
1863, and May 2, 1864, respectively.
National Typographical Union, Proceedings (Detroit, 1865),
Philadelphia, June, 1865.
National Typographical Union, Proceedings (Boston, 1866),
fourteenth session, Chicago, June, 1866.
III. Papers.
Washington Daily Chronicle, 1869.
Philadelphia Enquirer, daily, 1861-1862.
New York Herald, daily, 1865-1869.
New York Times, daily, 1874-1876.
Chicago Tribune, daily, 1876-1879.
Detroit Tribune, daily, 1864.
New York Tribune, daily, 1861-1866.
IV. Labour Papers
American Workman (Boston), 1868-1872.
Coopers Monthly Journal (Cleveland, Ohio), 1870-1874.
Daily Evening Voice (Boston), 1864-1867.
Pinchers Trades' Review, (Philadelphia), 1863-1866,
Engineer's Journal (Cleveland), 1869-1871,
576 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
EquiUj (Boston), 1874-1875.
Machinists' and Blacksmiths' Monthly Journal (Cleveland), 1872.
Miners' National Record (Cleveland), 1875-1876.
National Labor Tribune (Pittsburgh), 1875-1877.
Pomeroy's Democrat (Chicago), 1877.
The Printer (New York), 1864.
Printers' Circular (Philadelphia), 1866.
Welcome Workman (Philadelphia), 1867-1868.
Worhingman's Ad/vocate (Chicago), 1864-1877.
PART VI. UPHEAVAL AND REORGANISATION, 1876-1897
The secondary sources for this period naturally are more
abundant than for previous periods. Dr. Ely's Labor Move-
ment in America, published in 1886, during the climax of the
upheaval, gives a contemporary appraisal by a trained eye of
the social forces then at work. Waltershausen's Die norda-
merikanischen Gewerkschaften, etc., and his Der modeme 80-
zialismus in den Vereinigten Staaten von America (Berlin,
1890) are also exceedingly helpful. Although he vt^as clearly
vn*ong in his conclusion that as a result of the growth of fac-
tory system of production, the mixed organisation of labour
as typified by the Knights of Labor will come to prevail over
separate organisation by trades, he none the less deserves to be
classed among the keenest observers of American industrial
life. His treatment of the subject is comprehensive and ob-
jective, although the book on socialism might benefit by a
closer organisation of the material. A valuable cross-section
description of the American labour movement during a period
for which the then existing material is most meagre, namely, the
later seventies, is found in Professor Henry W. Famam's " Die
Amerikanischen Gewerkvereine," in Schriften des Verevns fur
Sozialpolitik (Leipzig, 1879), 1-39.
Serge's contribution is particularly valuable for this period.
He published one series of articles in the Stuttgart Neue Zeit
(1891-1892, I, 206, 388; II, 197, 239, 268, 324, 453, and
495; 1894-1895, II, 196, 234, 272, 304, and 330; 1895-1896,
II, 101, 132, 236, 262), as a connected history of the labour
movement in America from 1877 to 1896, and another series
in the same publication (1891-1892, II, 740 and 782; 1892-
1893, I, 236 and 270, II, 326; 1894-1895, I, 14, 43, 71, 111,
BIBLIOGEAPHY 577
147), currently describing labour events from 1892 to 1895.
Morris Hillquit's History of Socialism in the United States
(^NTew York, 1903) is the only work on the subject in the Eng-
lish language. As a piece of historical research it is not as
good as the above mentioned, but it is valuable for the period
after 1890, when the author was able to draw upon personal
observation and experience.
George E. McNeill's The Labor Movement — The Problem
of To-day contains several valuable chapters on this period,
especially chapters IX on the textile trades, X on the miners,
XV on the Knights of Labor, and the end of V on the Inter-
national Labor Union. Terence V. Powderly's Thirty Years
of Labor (Columbus, Ohio, 1889) is semi-historical and semi-
rhetorical. It contains valuable information on the beginnings
of the Knights of Labor. The book is valuable as a mirror
of the state of mind of the foremost leader of the Knights of
Labor at a time when his authority was still unshaken al-
though already questioned. A short '' History of the Labor
Movement in Chicago '' was written by George A. Schilling and
published in the Life of Albert B. Parsons (Chicago, 1903).
Schilling relates the events which led up to the Haymarket
catastrophe from the point of view of one who was an adherent
of the ^' political " faction in socialism.
There is no lack of public documents dealing with the sub-
ject of labour organisation during this period. The Census
of 1880 published statistics on strikes and labour organisations
for that year. (Tenth Census, XX, " Eeport on Statistics of
Wages . . . with Supplementary Reports on . . . Trade So-
cieties, and Strikes, and Lockouts," Washington, 1886). The
first attempt towards a comprehensive inquiry into labour con-
ditions in the United States was made by the Senate Commit-
tee on Education and Labor in 1883. The Committee pub-
lished four volumes of testimony in 1885, but it never pre-
sented a report.^ The testimony elicited, while important in
many respects, is too fragmentary in nature to be of great
value. The first successful comprehensive labour investiga-
tion was carried through by the Industrial Commission which
1 Nor were the published volumes of testimony included in the regular congres-
sional set.
678 HISTOEY OF LABOUE IN" THE UNITED STATES
was appointed by President McKinley in 1898. The nineteen
volumes of report and testimony (Washington, 1900, 1901,
and 1902) while naturally paying the closest attention to the
current and recent events of that time, abound also in material
pertaining to the history of labour during the eighties and
nineties.
The following are the more important special government
reports :
" Eeport of the Joint Special Committee to Investigate Chinese
Immigration,'' Senate Document, 44th Cong., 2d sess., 1876-
1877, No. 689 (Washington, 1877); "Depression in Labor and
Business," House Document, 45th Cong., 3rd sess., 1878-1879,
No. 29 ; " Eeport on Importation of Contract Labor," Senate Docu-
ment, 48th Cong., 1st sess., 1883-1884, No. 820 ; " Eeport on Im-
portation of Foreign Contract Labor/' House Document, 48th
Cong., 1st sess., 1883-1884, No. 444; " Eeport of House Select Com-
mittee on Labor Troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and
Texas," House Document, 49th Cong., 2d sess., 1886-1887, No.
4174; " Eeport of House Select Committee on Existing Labor Trou-
bles in Pennsylvania," House Document, 50th Cong., 2d sess.,
1888-1889, No. 4147 ; " Eeport of Senate Select Committee on Em-
ployment of Armed Guards," etc.. Senate Document, 52d Cong., 2d
sess., 1892-1893, No. 1280; Report of the United States Strike
Commission on the Chicago Strike of June and July, 189Jf (Wash-
ington, 1895) ; the same in Senate Document, 53d Cong., 3d sess.,
1894-1895, No. 7; and the Proceedings of the Hocking Valley In-
vestigating Committee of the General Assembly of the State of
Ohio (Columbus, 0., 1885).
But of the greatest importance are, of course, the reports
of the national and state bureaus of labour. The Bureau of
Labor at Washington was created in 1884 as a part of the
Department of the Interior. It became an independent De-
partment of Labor in 1888, which in 1905, was merged into
the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor. In
1912, with the re-establishment of the Department of Labor
and with the creation of the Office of Secretary of Labor, it
became the Bureau of Labor Statistics in that Department.
The following is the order in which the several state bureaus
of labour issued their first reports :
1870 — Massachusetts ; 1873 — Pennsylvania ; 1877 — Ken-
tucky and Ohio; 1878 — New Jersey; 1879 — Indiana and Mis-
BIBLIOGEAPHY 579
souri; 1881 — Illinois; 1883 — New York; 1884 — California,
Michigan, and Wisconsin ; 1885 — Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, and
Maryland; 1887 — Maine, North Carolina, and Rhode Island;
1888 — Colorado, Minnesota, and Nebraska; 1890 — West Vir-
ginia, North Dakota, and Arkansas; 1892 — Tennessee; 1893 —
Montana and New Hampshire; 1894 — Utah.
I. Public Documents.
United .States — First Annual Report of the Oommisioner of La-
bor, March, 1886, " Industrial Depressions."
Third Annual Report, 1887, " Strikes and Lockouts."
Tenth Annual Report, 1894, " Strikes and Lockouts."
Sixteenth Annual Report, 1901, " Strikes and Lockouts."
Third Special Report, 1893, " Analysis and Index of all Re-
ports issued by Bureaus of Labor Statistics in the United
States Prior to November 1, 1892."
Eleventh Special Report, 1904, " Regulation and Restriction
of Output" prepared under the supervision of John R.
Commons.
" Conciliation in the Stove Industry," John P. Frey and John
R. Commons, Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, XII, Jan.,
1906, 124-196.
California — Third Biennial Report, 1887-1888, " Trades Unions
and Labor Organizations," 109-192.
Colorado — ii^iVs^ Biennial Report, 1887-1888, "The Labor Move-
ment," 70-108.
Connecticut — Third Annual Report, 1887, "Labor Organizations
in Connecticut," 353-379.
Illinois — Second Biennial Report, " Strikes in Chicago and Vi-
cinity," 261-286.
Fourth Biennial Report, 1885-1886, "Trade and Labor Or-
ganizations in Illinois," 145-163; "The Eight-Hour
Movement in Chicago, May, 1886," 466-498.
Kansas — Second Annuxil Report, 1886, " The Southwestern
Strike," 21-72.
Maine — Statistics of the Industries of Maine for 1886, "Labor
Troubles," 95-105.
Massachusetts — Twelfth Annual Report, 1881, " Industrial Arbi-
tration and Conciliation," 5-75.
Thirteenth Annual Report, 1882, " Fall River, Lowell, and
Lawrence," 193-415.
Sixteenth Annual Report, 1885, " Pullman," Joint Report of
the Commissioners of the Various Bureaus of Statistics
of Labor in the United States, 3-26.
Michigan — Third Annual Report, 1886, " Strikes in Michigan,
March 1 to December 1, 1885," 83-134.
680 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Missouri — Fourth Anntuil Report^ 1882, " Strike Statistics," 121-
123.
Eighth Annual Report, 1886, " The Official History of 1886
Strike on the Southwestern Railway System," Appendix,
5-117.
New Jersey — Tenth Annual Report, 1887, "Labor Organization
in America and England,'' 3-64.
New York — Third Annual Report, 1885, "Strikes," 195-330;
"Boycotts," 331-362; "Labor Organizations," 539-605.
Fourth Annual Report, 1886, "Strikes," 411-710; "Boycot-
ting," 713-806.
Fifth Annual Report, 1887, "Strikes of 1887," 39-517;
" Boycotts," 522-552 ; " Conspiracy prosecutions and con-
spiracy laws," 565-700; "Labor Laws of 1886 and 1887,"
703-776.
Annuul Report, 1911, " New York Typographical Union
No. 6."
Ohio — Third Annual Report, 1879, " Trade and Labor Organiza-
tions," 258-262.
Fifth Annual Report, 1881, " Trade and Labor Organizations,"
97-100.
Seventh Annual Report, 1883, " Labor Troubles," 213-254.
Pennsylvania — Tenth Annual Report, 1881-1882, " Labor Trou-
bles in Pennsylvania, 1882," 144-192.
Rhode Island — Second Annual Report, 1888, "Labor Organiza-
tions," 86-97.
Wisconsin — First Biennial Report, 1883-1884, " Trade and Labor
Unions," 119-139.
Second Biennial Report, 1885-1886, " Strikes and Industrial
Disturbances," 238-313; "The Eight-Hour Day," 314-
371 ; " Boycotting in Wisconsin," 377-390.
Eleventh Census Compendium, 1890.
United States, Statistical Abstract, 1915.
II. Books and Pamphlets.
Adelphon Kruptos. (n. p., 1881) ; same (Toledo, 1891).
Altgeld, John P. The Eight-Eour Movement. An address deliv-
ered before the Brotherhood of United Labor at the Armory
in Chicago, February 22, 1890.
"An Address'' (Moberly, Mo., 1885, Leaflet).
An Argument in favor of a Legislative Enactment to Abolish the
Tenement Hou^e Cigar Factories in New York and Brooklyn
(New York, 1882).
"Appeal to Aid" (Philadelphia, 1886, Leaflet). ,
Ashworth, J. H. "The Helper and American Trade Unions,"
Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1915),
XXXIII.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 581
Aveling, E. B. and E. M. The Working Class Movement in Amer-
ica (London, 1891).
Bemis, E. W. " Co-operation in the Middle States/' Johns Hopkins
University/ Studies (Baltimore, 1888), VI.
" Co-operation in New England," Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity Studies (Baltimore, 1888), VI.
" Relation of labor organizations to the American boy and
to trade instruction," Annals of the American Academy, 1894,
V, 209-241.
" Trades Unions and Apprentices," American Journal of
Social Science, 1890, XXVIII, 108-125.
Buchanan, J. R. The Story of a Labor Agitator (New York,
1903).
Constitution and By-Laws of District Assembly 17 (St. Louis,
Leaflet) .
Constitution of the Central Labor Union (New York, 1887).
Constitution of the Junior Sons of '76 (Leaflet).
Dunning, N. A. The Farmers' Alliance History and Agricultural
Digest (Washington, 1891).
Farnam, H. W. " Die Amerikanischen Gewerkvereine," in Schrif-
ten des Vereins fiir Sozialpolitik (Leipzig, 1879), XVIII,
1-38.
Fitch, J. A. The Steel Workers (New York, 1911).
" Unionism in the Iron and Steel Industry," Political
Science Quarterly, 1909, XXIV, 71-78.
George, Henry. The Condition of Labor, an Open Letter to Pope
Leo XIII (New York, 1891) .
The Crime of Poverty. Address delivered at Burlington,
Iowa, April 1, 1885, under the auspices of the Burlington As-
sembly, Knights of Labor, No. 3135 (Burlington, 1885).
Progress and Poverty (New York, 1880),
George, Henry, Jr. The Life of Henry George, by His Son (2
vols., New York, 1904).
Gunton, George. Wealth and Progress . . . the Economic Phil-
osophy of the Eight-Hour Movement (New York, 1887).
Hardv, S. M. " Quantitv of Money and Prices," in Journal of
Political Economy, 1894-1895, III, 145-168.
Hewitt, Abram S. The Emancipation of Labor. Speech deliv-
ered in the House of Representatives, April 30, 1884 (Wash-
ington, 1884).
Hinton, R. F. " American Labor Organizations," North Ameri-
can Review, 1885, CXL, 48.
History of the Farmers' Alliance, the Agricultural Wheel, etc.,
edited and compiled under the auspices of the St. Louis Jour-
nal of Agriculture (1890).
Holyoake, George Jacob. Among the Americans (London, 1881).
582 HISTORY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Huebner, Grover G. Blacklisting, Wisconsin Free Library Com-
mission, Legislative Reference Department, Comparative
Legislation Bulletin, No. 10 (Madison, 1906).
Boycotting, Wisconsin Free Library Commission, Legis-
lative Reference Department, Comparative Legislation Bulle-
tin, No. 9 (Madison, 1906).
Jonas, Alexander. Eight-Hour Standard Working Day (New
York, n. d.).
Kennedy, J. B. " Beneficiary Features of American Trade
Unions, Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1908),
XXVI.
Kirk, William, "National Labor Federations in the United
States," Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1906),
XXIV.
Libby, 0. G. " A Study of the Greenback Movement, 1876-1884,''
in Transactions of Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and
Letters, 1898-1899, XII, 530-543.
Lloyd, H. D. " Lords of Industry," in North American Review,
1884, CXXXVIII, 535-553.
The Safety of the Future Lies in Organized Labor. A
Paper Read before the 13th Annual Convention of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor (Chicago, 1893).
A Strike of Millionaires against Miners (Chicago, 1890).
McCabe, D. A. " The Standard Rate in American Trade Unions,"
Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1912), XXX.
McNeill, George E. Eight-Hour Primer, the Fact, Theory and the
Argument (Published by American Federation of Labor, New
York, n. d.).
The Philosophy of the Labor Movement. Read before
International Labor Congress (Washington, n. d.).
Trade Union Ideals, in American Economic Association
Publications, Ser. 3, IV, No. 1, pp. 211-229, 248-268 (New
York, 1903).
Motley, F. M. " Apprenticeship in American Trade Unions,"
Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1907), XXV.
Old Ritual of the Knights of Labor (n. p., n. d.).
Perry, J. S. Prison Labor; with Tables Showing the Proportion
of Convict to Citizen Labor, in the Prisons of the State of New
York, and of the United States (Albany, 1885).
Pinkerton, Allan. Strikers, Communists, Tramps and Detectives
(New York, 1900).
Post, L. F., and Leubuscher, F. C. An Account of the Oeorge-
Hewitt Campaign (New York, 1886).
Proceedings of the Annual Conventions of the American Federation
of Labor, 1886-1915.
Proceedings of the Annual Conventions of the Federation of Organ-
ized Trades and Labor Unions, 1881-1886.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 583
Proceedings of the Annual Conventions of the National Associa-
tion of Builders' Exchanges, 1887-1895.
Proceedings of the Sessions of the General Assembly of the Knights
of Labor, 1878-1897.
Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Convention of United
Mine Workers of America (Indianapolis, 1911).
Randall, D. R. " Co-operation in Maryland and the South/' Johns
Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1888), VI.
The Record of Benjamin F. Butler, Compiled from the Original
Sources (Boston, 1883).
Ringwalt, J. L. Development of Transportation Systems in the
United States (Philadelphia, 1888).
Ritter, J. H. " Present Day Jobbing," in Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 1903, XXII, 451.
Roy, Andrew. A Histoi-y of Coal Miners in the United States (Co-
lumbus, Ohio, n. d.).
Sakolski, A. M. "The Finances of American Trade Unions,"
Johns Hopkins University Studies (Baltimore, 1906), XXIV.
Salmons, C. H. The Burlington Strike (Aurora, Illinois, 1889).
Samuel, J. Collection of Manuscripts, Letters, and Scrap-books
on Co-operation.
How to Organize Co-operative Societies, with Constitution,
Rules, etc. In Local or District Assemblies (St. Louis, n. d.).
Tracts for the Times. Co-operation the only Hope for
American Wage-Earners (St. Louis, n. d.),
Schliiter, H. The Brewing Industry and the Brewery Workers'
Movement in America (Cincinnati, 1910).
Secret Circular of the Knights of Labor (n. p., December, 1894).
Shaw, Albert. " Co-operation in the Northwest,'^ Johns Hopkins
University Studies (Baltimore, 1888), VI.
Shinn, C. H. " Co-operation on the Pacific Coast," Johns Hopkins
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Waters, Robert. Career and Conversation of John Swinton, Jour-
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W^hitney, N. R. "Jurisdiction in American Building-Trades
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584 HISTOEY OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES
Wolfe, F. E. "Admission to American Trade Unions/' Johns
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Wolman, Leo. " The Boycott in American Trade Unions,'^ Johns
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August Spies, et al. v. The People, etc. In the Supreme Court of
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Constitution of the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance of the
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Copy-book of the International Workingmen's Association, 1869-
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Douai, Adolph. Hard Times (Chicago, 1877).
Eltzbacher, Paul. Anarchism (translation. New York, 1908).
Ely, E. T. French and German Socialism (New York, 1883).
" Eecent American Socialism,'^ Johns Hopkins University
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Engels, Frederick. The Labor Movement in America (New York,
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Estey, J. Revolutionary Syndicalism, an Exposition and a Criti-
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Gary, Joseph E. " The Chicago Anarchists of 1886 : The Crime,
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General Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International
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General Rules of the Association of United Workers of America
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Gronlund, Lawrence. Insufficiency of Henry George's Theory
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The Haymarket Speeches (Chicago, 1886).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 585
Hunter, Robert. Violence and the Labor Movement (New York,
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Jaeckh, G. Die Internationale (Leipzig, 1904).
Lassalle, Ferdinand. Open Letter to the National Labor Associa-
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Lum, Dyer D. A Concise History of the Great Trial of the Chi-
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The New Democracy, or Political Commonwealth. "Declar-
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Offizielles protolcoll der 5ten National-Konvention der Sozialist-
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Proceedings of the First Congress of the North American Feder-
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Philadelphia, 1872.
Protolcoll Buck des Allgemeinen Deutschen Arbeiter Vereins
(Manuscript in Library of the Rand School of Social Science
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Protolcoll des Kommunistischen Klubs in New Yorh, 1857-1867
(Manuscript in Library of the Rand School of Social Science
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Booh of Minutes of Section 1 (Hobohen) of the International La-
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IV. Papers.
Bradstreet's (New York), weekly, 1880-1896.
The Sun (New York), 1886-1887.
Chicago Times, daily, 1886-1887.
New York Times, daily, 1875-1879.
Revolution (New York), weekly, 1868-1870.
San Francisco Evening Bulletin, daily, 1876-1878.
San Francisco Chronicle, daily, 1873-1879.
V. Labour Papers.
American F ederationist (Washington, D. C), monthly, 1894-1915.
Carpenter (Indianapolis), monthly, 1886-1897.
Cigar Makers' Official journal (New York, Buffalo, Chicago),
monthly, 1876-1890.
Daily Evening Voice (Boston), 1866-1869.
Hollisters Eight-Hour Herald (Chicago), 1896-1897.
John Swinton's Paper (New York), weekly, 1883-1887.
Journal of United Labor (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia), bi-monthly,
1880-1889.
Journal of the Knights of Labor (Philadelphia, Washington),
weekly. 1890-1893. (Successor to Journal of United
Labor.)
The Labor Enquirer (Denver and Chicago), weekly, 1883-1888.
Labor Standard (New York, Boston, Fall River and Paterson),
weekly, 1876-1889.
National Labor Tribune (Pittsburgh), weekly, 1874-1890.
The Standard (New York), weekly, 1887-1890.
Trades Journal (Pittsburgh), weekly, 1888-1890.
Truth (San Francisco), weekly, 1882-1884.
The W orkingman' s Advocate (Chicago), weekly, 1875-1876.
Workman (New York"), weekly, 1882,
BIBLIOGRAPHY 687
VI. Socialist and Anarchist Papers.
ArheitersUmme (New York), weekly, 1876-1878.
Arheiter-Zeitung (New York), weekly, 1873-1875.
Bulletin of Social Labor Movement (Detroit), monthly, 1880-1881.
Chicagoer Arheiter-Zeitung, daily, 1887-1888.
TJie Cleveland Citizen, weekly, 1893-1899.
Der Deutsche Arheiter (Chicago), weekly, 1870.
Die Arbeiter-Union (New York), weekly, 1866-1870.
Holyoke Labor (Holyoke, Massachusetts), weekly, 1894-1896.
Leader (New York), 1886-1887.
National Socialist (Cincinnati), weekly, 1870-1879.
New Yorker Arbeiter-Z eitung, weekly, 1864-1865.
New Yorker V olkszeitung , daily, 1888-1895.
Die Parole (St. Louis), weekly, 1884-1886.
Sozial-Demokrat (New York), weekly, 1874-1878.
Der Sozialist (New York), weekly, 1885-1892.
The Alarm (Chicago), weekly, 1884-1886.
Vorbote (Chicago), weekly, 1874-1888.
Vorwdrts (New York) , weekly, 1893-1894.
Woodhull and Claflins Weekly (New York), 1872-1874.
^.
INDEX
INDEX
Adelphon Kruptos, Knights of
Labor, II, 339.
Advertising, by Knights of Labor,
II, 344; descriptive of market-
ing methods, I, 61 ; in cordwain-
ers' controversy, I, 58-60; com-
mission stores, I, 94, 95; ware-
houses, I, 100; weapon against
journeymen societies, I, 134.
Agrarianism, Influence: German
land reformers, I, 535; on gov-
ernment policy, T, 562, 563; on
Industrial Congresses, I, 548,
550, 551; National Reform As-
sociation, I, 531 ; New England
Workingmen's Association, I,
537, 538; on trade unionism, I,
531, 532, 577, 578.
Opinions: Kriege, I, 534; labour,
I, 244, 245, 248; Owen, I, 243;
press, I, 532, 533; public, I,
211, 239, 271, 273, 275, 293, 363.
Theories: inalienability of land,
I, 523, 524; new, I, 522, 523;
II, 448; Skidmore, I, 236-238,
243; supremacy of individual-
ism, I, 524.
Agricultural Wheel, activities, II,
490.
Alarm, The, anarchist paper, II,
296, 389.
Albany, coopers fix prices, I, 61 ;
surveyor of weights appointed,
I, 47; trade society, I, 72; typo-
graphical society, I, 113; work-
ingmen's party, I, 261, 267.
Alimoners, in Columbia Typographi-
cal Society, I, 137.
Alleghany City Convention, compro-
mise with Greenbackers, II, 285.
Allen, Samuel C, in Massachusetts
politics, I, 315, 316.
Altgeld, John P., II, 393, 503.
Amalgamated Trades and Labor As-
sembly, Central Labor Union,
II, 387-389, 391; Eight-Hour
association, II, 391.
591
American Federation of Labor,
Anarchism : Haymarket Square
bomb, II, 394 ; industrial union-
ism, II, 500; Industrial Work-
ers of the World, II, 523;
industrialism, II, 534.
Conditions : depression, II, 501 ;
future, II, 537; growth, II,
410n, 522, 524; organisation, II,
410, 411, 634; revolutionary
strikes, II, 503; solidarity, II,
519, 520.
Conventions: Federation of Or-
ganised Trades and I<abor
Unions, II, 309, 318, 322-326;
1888, II, 475; 1892, II, 509;
1893, II, 509-511; 1895, II, 513.
Knights of Labor, II, 411, 413,
483-488.
Legislation and politics: Adam-
son Act, II, 530n; campaign of
1896, II, 514; congressional
campaign, 1906, II, 531 ; labour
legislation, II, 512, 513, 529;
political action, II, 509; 512n.
Policies: aims, II, 479; bimetal-
lism, II, 511, 514n; economic
functions, II, 320, 495; eight-
hour campaign, II, 476, 515;
opportunism, I, 17; tariff, II,
330n.
Socialism, II, 516-519.
Trade Unions: brewery workers,
II, 488; coal miners, II, 487;
craft autonomy, II, 536; trades'
assembly, II, 22; unskilled, II,
523, 533.
See also. Federation of Organised
Trades and Labor Unions of
United States and Canada.
American Federationist, legislative
programme, II, 513.
Ammon, Robert H., strikes, 1877, II,
186, 190.
Anarchism, aesthetic individualism,
I, 494; agrarianism, I, 523;
Andrews, Stephen Pearl, I, 517,
518; co-operative marketing, I,
95, 96; doctrines, I, 16, 17, 20,
592
INDEX
21; evolution, I, 14; Masquerier,
I, 532; Most, Johann, II, 294;
Pittsburgh Convention, 1883, II,
293; Pittsburgh Manifesto, II,
295, 296; politics, II, 292, 293;
Proudhonism, II, 139; Red In-
ternational, II, 299, 300; social-
ism, II, 290; syndicalism, II,
297; ticket exchange, I, 511;
unionism, II, 292, 293; Weit-
ling's bank of exchange, I, 514,
515.
See also. International, Black;
Transcendentalism.
Anarchists, see Andrews; Bakunin;
Brisbane ; Fourier ; Tucker ;
Warren; Weitling.
Ancient Order of United Workmen,
II, 196.
Andrews, Stephen Pearl, anarchist,
I, 17, 516-518, 556; II, 210.
Anthony, Susan B., II, 127, 129.
Anti-monopoly Party, Kearney, a
leader, II, 264; nominations,
1884, II, 440.
Anti-Poverty Society, organised, II,
456.
Apprenticeship, Conditions: becomes
child labour, I, 339-341 ; a cus-
tom, I, 125; division of labour,
II, 81; education, I, 77, 78;
employers shirk responsibility,
II, 316; moulders, II, 50; print-
ing trade, I, 115, 116, 448, 451;
runaway apprentices, I, 114,
115.
Regulation: demands, I, 104, 341,
342; limitation of numbers, II,
82; reformers, I, 595, 596; uni-
form laws, I, 56; II, 83, 238;
324; union, I, 590-595, 613n;
II, 82-84.
Arbeiter Union, Die, organised, II,
223, 225.
Arbeiter Union Publishing Associa-
tion, established, II, 223; paper
under Douai, II, 224.
Arheiterstimme, policy, II, 274, 278;
ceases publication, II, 281.
Arheiterstimme des Westens, Wal-
ster editor, II, 278.
Arheiter-Zeitung, established, II,
216; fight for control, II, 221;
discontinued, II, 222.
Arbitration, collective bargaining,
II, 527; compulsory, II, 326;
employers' associations, II, 414,
415; labour, II, 374, 384; cab-
inet-makers, I, 337; Rochester
Congress, II, 165.
Archibald, James P., II, 446, 455.
Armour and Company, form em-
ployers' association, II, 418.
Armstrong, Thomas J., II, 247, 440.
Arthur, P. M., II, 67, 68.
Arthur, President, vetoed Chinese
Exclusion Act, II, 267.
Arthur v. Oakes, decision, II, 508.
Association, advocates, I, 502 ; con-
vention, 1844, I, 503; failure, I,
506; Fourierism, I, 499, 500;
Greeley, I, 500, 501; Industrial
Congresses, I, 550; New Eng-
land Working Men's Associa-
tion, I, 538; phalanxes organ-
ised, I, 505, 506; predecessors,
I, 504; press, I, 501, 502; uni-
tary dwellings, I, 520.
See also, Fourierism.
" Association," term for local union,
I, 14.
Association of Working People of
New Castle County, organised,
I, 287; spring election in 1830,
I, 288, 289; end, I, 289, 290.
Athenian Society of Baltimore, I,
92; opens warehouse, I, 94.
Atkinson, James A., at Cleveland
Congress, II, 161.
Auction system, opposition, I, 278,
279, 231n.
Auchmuty, Richard T., on appren-
ticeship, II, 315.
Australia, influence of free land,
I, 4.
Austria, International Working-
men's Association, II, 215; so-
cialist strife, II, 221.
Bagley, Sarah G., I, 539, 539n.
Bakunin, Michael, anarchist, I, 17;
II, 205, 214, 215.
Baltimore, co-operation, II, 43Sn;
Daily Press founded, I, 617;
labour party, I, 277 ; printers,
I, 109 ; strikes, I, 386, 387, 419,
478-484; tailors, I, 109; trade
societies, I, 473; trades' union,
I, 358, 359; unemployment, I,
135.
See also Cordwainers of Balti-
more ; Typographical Society,
Baltimore.
Baltimore Athenian Society, I, 92;
INDEX
693
opens warehouse, I, 94; sales, I,
98.
Banking System, see Financial Sys-
tem.
Bargaining Power, Classes: conflict,
I, 49, 50, 56, 64, 87; harmony,
I, 48, 49; origin, I, 6, 26-29;
solidarity, II, 519, 520; vertical
separation, I, 57.
Collective: arbitration, II, 325,
414-417, 527; benevolent socie-
ties, I, 87; corporations, I, 541,
542; II, 496, 497, 499; employ-
ers' associations, I, 132-134,
403, 404; II, 32, 33; guilds, I,
7, 72, 73; method, I, 121-123;
monopoly, II, 6, 526; pools, II,
359; trade agreements, I, 15,
606, 607; II, 307, 308, 314, 315,
525, 527; trade union, I, 9, 90,
105-107, 113-115, 350, 352-368,
374, 589, 599-607; II, 32, 33,
373, 374, 426; trades' assem-
blies, II, 22-26, 36-39, 310-313.
Conditions: Chinese, II, 141, 146,
148-150; cigar makers and the
mould, II, 71, 72; depression, I,
456, 457; factory system, II, 76,
77; immigration, I, 10, 597,
616; II, 116-118; itinerant to
custom-order stage, I, 34-36;
machinery, I, 491, 492; mar-
kets, extension of, I, 440, 441 ;
Negro, II, 114; printing trade,
" two-thirders " in, I, 448 ; rail-
ways, II, 6; retail shop to
wholesale-order stage, I, 61,
62.
Government Regulation: bounties,
I, 38; Chinese exclusion act, II,
260, 261, 267, 268; employers
control, II, 498, 499; guilds, I,
46-48; imprisonment for debt,
I, 178-180; legal tender acts,
II, 14, 15; loans and tax em-
emptions, I, 37; manufacturers*
monopoly, I, 40; price and
wage, I, 50-53; protective tar-
iffs, I, 41-44, 75; raw materials,
I, 38; subsidised mechanics,
I, 37; war revenue law, II,
69.
Individual : apprenticeship, I,
340, 590-595; book publishers,
I, 447, 448; mechanics, I, 25,
30, 37, 57, 175, 220, 339, 340;
II, 6; merchants, I, 63, 64, 72;
merchant capitalist, I, 101, 102,
106; method, I, 121-123; price
bargain, I, 29, 70; price-wage
bargain, I, 32, 33; price and
wage regulations, I, 50-52;
puddler, II, 80; quality regula-
tions, I, 48, 49; imskilled, II,
359, 397.
Methods: blacklist, II, 64; boy-
cott, I, 600; closed shop, I,
130-132, 522, 596, 598.
See also. Arbitration; Boycott;
Chinese ; Competition ; Convict
labour; Women in labour move-
ment; Employers' associations;
Immigration ; Industrial con-
gresses ; Industrial cycles ;
Negro; Strikes; Trade agree-
ments; Wages.
Barondess, Joseph, United Hebrew
Trades, II, 519.
Barr case, injunction, II, 506.
Barry, T. B., II, 366, 373.
Bates, Thomas, socialist, II, 262.
Beaumont, Ralph, II, 242, 244, 491,
493.
Beck, William, ticket exchange, I,
511.
Becker, Johann Philipp, Swiss so-
cialist, II, 207.
Benefits, Conditions: depressions, I,
614; union stability, I, 136,
137; II, 307, 501.
Systems: II, 314; death, I, 124;
sickness, I, 124, 125; strike, I,
122-124, 585; II, 70.
Union: benevolent societies, I,
83-87; cabinet-makers, I, 336;
cigar makers, I, 336; house
painters, I, 608; in sixties, II,
175; locomotive engineers, II,
68.
Benevolent Societies, aggressiveness,
I, 578-580; early, I, 85; incor-
poration, I, 86, 87.
Bennett, James Gordon, industrial
congresses, I, 554, 560.
Berger, Victor, socialist, II, 516.
Be-spoke, term, I, 36.
Bi-Metallic League, American Fed-
eration of Labor, II, 511.
Black International, see Interna-
tional, Black.
Blacklist, employers' associations,
I, 403; Fall River cotton mills,
II, 362; New York tailors, I,
408; Pater son strike, I, 421;
policy, II, 195; railways, II, 64;
594
INDEX
secret organization to fight, II,
239.
Blaine, James G., opposed by Typo-
graphical Union, II, 317, 318.
Blair, George, II, 163, 235, 236, 242.
Blissert, Robert, and Central Labor
Union, II, 441, 442.
Boot and Shoe Workers' Interna-
tional Union, organised, II, 486.
Boston, Associated Housewrights, I,
76; bread assize, I, 54, 55;
carpenters, I, 118, 388; II, 158-
162; Columbian Charitable So-
ciety, I, 77 ; Eight-Hour League,
II, 140; election, II, 142;
Faustus Association, I, 77;
Labor Reform Association, II,
91; Mechanics Institute, I, 78;
New England Working Men's
Convention, I, 537; Prison Dis-
cipline Society, I, 178-180;
shoemakers, I, 36, 45-47, 109;
strikes, I, 388, 478-484; II,
158-162.
Bounties, to encourage manufac-
tures, I, 38, 39.
Bovay, Alvin E., I, 537, 547.
Boycott, Cases: Armour Company,
II, 419; boarding houses, I,
130; brewery workers, II, 488;
Buck's Stove and Range, II,
531; Chinese-made goods, II,
267; Danbury Hatters, II, 530;
Duryea Glen Cove Company, II,
317n; in 1884, 1885, II, 364,
365; New York Tribune, II, 317,
318; Pullman, II, 502; Theiss
boycott, II, 445.
Legal Theory: business is prop-
erty, II, 506.
Union Practice: New York Cen-
tral Labor Union, II, 444;
trades' assemblies, II, 22-25,
311; trades' union, I, 364;
union weapon, I, 600; II, 442.
Boycotter, The, established, II, 317.
Brace Bros. v. Evans, boycott case,
II, 506.
Brandt, Lyman A., II, 319, 321.
Bread Assize, I, 52, 53.
Bricklayers' National Union, and
American Federation of Labor,
II, 522n; established, II, 213;
growth, II, 308, 375; lockout,
II, 423-425.
Brisbane, Albert, I, 17, 497, 498,
499, 500, 505, 525, 538, 544,
647; II, 138.
Brooklyn, labour party, I, 277.
Brownson, Orestes A., I, 260, 494-
496.
Buchanan, Joseph R., II, 299, 300,
367, 368, 408, 409, 416n, 466,
467.
Biicher, Karl, cited, I, 20, 26, 27, 33.
Buflfalo, conspiracy case, I, 164, 165;
labour party, II, 277; switch-
men's strike, II, 498.
Building Trades, associations, I,
519-521, 574; early organisa-
tions, I, 67-69; industrial
stages, I, 66; itinerant worker,
I, 67; piece work and contract
work, I, 67; price bargain, I,
70; trades' council, I, 68; II,
312, 515.
See also, Carpenters.
Burlingame Treaty with China, ab-
rogation demanded, II, 238,
250; passed, II, 150; ratified,
II, 265.
Butler, Benjamin F., II, 246, 260,
440, 441.
Cabinet-Makers of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania Society of Jour-
neymen, co-operation, I, 467;
organisation, I, 99, 336, 337.
Cabinet-makers, United, Arbeiter
Union, II, 223; convict labour,
I, 155; eight-hour movement,
II, 225 ; prejudice against I. W.
A., II, 226.
California, anti-Chinese agitation,
II, 146, 149-151, 262; constitu-
tional convention, II, 260, 261;
eight-hour movement, II, 147;
industrial situation in the six-
ties, II, 147; Mechanics' State
Council, II, 148; ten-hour law,
I, 544.
See also, Chinese; Workingmen's
Party of California.
Cameron, A. C, II, 99, 115, 119, 124,
129, 132, 133, 145, 149, 162,
166.
Campbell, Alexander, II, 120, 122,
123, 126.
Campbell, John, I, 516, 595; II, 468.
Capital Pimishment, demand for
abolition, I, 299; in New York,
I, 345.
Capitalist - wholesaler, separation
from retailer, I, 7.
INDEX
595
Carey, Mathew, I, 73, 354, 356, 415,
416, 447.
Carl, Conrad, II, 207, 216, 221, 225.
Carnegie Brothers and Company,
Homestead strike, II, 495-497.
Carpenters, Organisation : Carpen-
ters' and Joiners' Brotherhood,
II, 313, 326, 376, 377, 388; Car-
penters' Company of Philadel-
phia, I, 68, 78, 80-82, 84, 97;
conventions, I, 453; II, 326;
growth, II, 313, 375; strikes, I,
127, 128, 186-189, 388-397; II,
476; unions, I, 110; II, 20,
477n.
Programme: anarchism, II, 388;
apprenticeship, I, 342; co-opera-
tion, I, 97; hours, II, 377, 476;
trade agreement, I, 608; wages,
I, 582.
Cary, Samuel F., II, 125, 130, 149,
171, 244.
Catholic Church, on co-operation, I,
671; Henry George, II, 453;
Knights of Labor, II, 201, 331 ;
opposition to, I, 415; II, 456.
See also, McGlynn, Father.
Central bodies, term, I, 15.
Central Labor Federation, New
York, organised, II, 516, 517.
Central labor union, term, I, 15.
Central Labor Union, Chicago: agi-
tation, II, 389; composition, II,
391n; eight-hour day, II, 391;
organisation, II, 387; princi-
ples, II, 388.
New York: activities, II, 441-
443; boycott, II, 444, 445; the
Leaker, II, 451; political action,
II, 446; principles, II, 442;
Progressive Democracy, II, 455 ;
Progressive Labor Party, II,
401; socialism, II, 517.
St. Louis: II, 389n.
Channing, William H., I, 502, 503,
538, 547.
Charleston, bakers, I, 53, 54 ; Colum-
bian Charitable Society, I, 77.
Chicago, anarchism, II, 209, 298n,
386-393; socialism, II, 279n,
282, 283, 285, 287n; strikes, II,
367n, 419; trade unionism, II,
279; Trade and Labor Assem-
bly, II, 327, 331.
See also Central Labor Union; In-
ternational, Black.
Chicagoer Arheiter-Zeitung, II, 282;
unemployed, II, 389.
Chicagoer Volkasieitung , Lassallean
organ, II, 272.
Child Labour, Conditions: appren-
ticeship, I, 339-341; education,
I, 182, 183; hours, I, 174, 175,
542; factories, I, 320, 321, 331,
428, 432; textile industry, I,
172, 173.
Laws: demanded by Greenback
Party, II, 251; demanded by
Illinois Labor Party, II, 228;
by Knights of Labor, II, 336;
by New England Association of
Farmers, Mechanics, and Other
Workingmen, I, 318; in Penn-
sylvania, I, 331; limitation on
hours, I, 542-544; Pittsburgh
convention, 1881, II, 324.
Chinese, Burlingame treaty, II, 150;
California agitation, II, 252-
268 ; congressional investiga-
tion, II, 265; Crispins, II, 141;
Federal Exclusion Act, II, 151,
252, 267, 268; immigration, II,
266, 328; National Labor
Union, II, 149, 150; Rochester
Congress, II, 165; strike break-
ism, II, 146, 149 ; trade unionism,
II, 158; unemployment, II, 148.
Cigar Makers' Union, International,
Activities : apprenticeship, I,
593; II, 84; benefits, II, 71, 73,
175n, 377; boycotts, II, 366;
conspiracy case, Kingston, II,
70; strikes, II, 70-74, 177, 178,
307, 363; war revenue law, II,
68, 69; women, II, 363.
Organisation: conventions, I, 621;
II, 69, 72, 73, 321, 326; estab-
lished, II, 313; federation, II,
402; government, II, 314;
growth, II, 47, 70, 176, 308,
313, 473; reorganised, II, 45,
306; split, II, 399, 400, 412.
See also, Gompers, Samuel.
Cigar Makers' Union, Progressive,
formed, II, 400; joins District
Assembly 49, II, 401; labour
legislation, II, 387; unites with
International Union, II, 412.
Cincinnati, co-operative marketing,
I, 96, 99; National Labor
Union, Congress, II, 209; so-
cialism, II, 273, 277, 282; tail-
ors organise, I, 352.
Citizens' Alliance, organised, II,
493 ; Cincinnati convention.
596
INDEX
Citizens' Protective Union, San
Francisco, II, 263.
Citizenship, education, I, 181-184,
223-229, 283 ; Mechanics' Union
of Trade Associations, I, 190,
299, 300; progress, I, 331, 332;
representation, I, 232, 233;
suffrage, I, 175-178; theories,
I, 13, 14, 170-172, 300-303, 324,
382-385.
Civil War, depression, II, 9, 10;
labour, I, 4; II, 10-12; unions,
II, 13.
Claflin, Tennessee, suffragist, II,
211.
Class Antagonism, Indications :
Chartist clubs, I, 564, 565; city
industrial congresses, I, 544:
education, I, 323; hatred, II,
373; politics, I, 234, 292, 304,
305.
Theories: I, 120; Brisbane, I,
499; Evans, I, 525; origin, I,
26-29; Owen, I, 525; price bar-
gain, I, 29; versus race strug-
gle, II, 253-268; Weitling, I,
613.
Clayton Act, II, 532.
Cleveland, Grover, election, II, 318;
sends troops in Pullman strike,
II, 503.
Closed shop, Carpenters* Company
of Philadelphia, I, 81 ; Common-
wealth V. Hunt decision, I, 412;
employers' associations, I, 404;
immigrants excluded, I, 10;
theory, I, 130-132; unions, II,
479n.
Collins, John A., I, 504; II, 157.
Colman, Reverend Henry, I, 321,
323, 324.
Colorado, Greenbackism, II, 248.
Commerford, John, I, 263n, 429, 434,
531.
Commission stores, development, I,
100; inadequacy, I, 101; pri-
vate, I, 94.
Common law, conspiracy cases, I,
139, 143; opinions, I, 147, 148.
Commonwealth v. Carlisle, conspir-
acy case, I, 163.
Commonwealth v. Hunt, conspiracy
ease, II, 504.
Communist Club, International, II,
206, 207; Social Party, II, 208,
209.
Communist Manifesto, and Commu-
nist Club, II, 207.
Competition, Conditions: control, I,
57-61, 68; cut-throat, II, 359;
equalised, I, 112; evils, I, 45,
46 ; immigration, I, 9, 10 ; inter-
national labour, II, 86; machin-
ery, I, 491; markets, extension
of, I, 41, 440, 441 ; II, 5, 6, 44,
148; mechanics, II, 358; mer-
chant-capitalist system, I, 102,
104, 339; monopoly, I, 219;
pools, II, 360 ; shoe industry, II,
76, 77; wage, I, 621.
Kinds: Chinese, II, 149, 264, 265;
convict labour, I, 155, 443, 492;
foreign, I, 72, 154; inferior
workers, I, 114; Negro, II, 113.
Opinions: Andrews, S. P., I, 518;
Brisbane, I, 499; Greeley, I,
548.
Connecticut, greenbackism, II, 245;
hours of labour, I, 543; II, 108;
price regulation, I, 50; unions,
II, 19; wage regulation, I, 51.
Conservation, natural resources, I,
4; raw materials, I, 39.
See also. Land Policy.
Conspiracy, Administrative Prob-
lems: commercial appeals, I,
149-152; employers aided, II,
503; judges antagonistic to
labour, I, 152; jurors, occupa-
tions of, I, 147; political issues,
I, 146-149; power, II, 473.
Cases: Arthur v. Oakes, II, 507;
Baltimore weavers, I, 419;
Barr, II, 506; Brace Brothers
V. Evans, II, 506; Buck's Stove
and Range, II, 531; Buffalo
tailors, I, 164, 165; Common-
wealth V. Carlisle, I, 163; Com-
mon-wealth V. Hunt, I, 411, 412;
II, 504; cordwainers, I, 138-
146; Danbury hatters, II, 530;
Debs, II, 502, 503, 508; Gaul,
II, 123; Geneva shoemakers, I,
406, 407; in 1829-1842, I, 405;
in 1835, I, 372, 373; in 1853-
1854, I, 611, 612; in 1859, I,
612; Kingston, II, 70; Lennon,
II, 508; New York hatters', I,
164; New York tailors', I, 337,
408; Siney and Parks, II, 180,
181n; Thompsonville, I, 313,
314; Walker v. Cronin, II, 506;
weavers, I, 314n.
Judicial Theory: business is prop-
erty, II, 505, 506; combination
to improve conditions, I, 140,
INDEX
591
141, 144; common law, I, 139,
146-149; injunctions, II, 502,
503, 505-509; legal issues, I,
139, 146; II, 504; public injury,
I, 146; unlawful means, I, 143-
145.
Legislation: II, 324; Clayton Act,
II, 532; in 1877, II, 191; incor-
poration of unions, II, 314; In-
terstate Commerce Act, II, 505;
New York law, II, 23n, 443;
Sherman Anti-trust Act, II,
505, 508, 509, 530.
Opinions: employers', I, 405; la-
bours', I, 162, 299, 409, 410,
443; II, 276.
Constitution, federal, I, 4, 74, 75;
incorporation, II, 326; of 1787,
11,7.
Contract immigrant labour, legisla-
tion, II, 373; protested, II, 372.
Convict labour, abolition demanded,
I, 282, 369n, 370n; competition,
I, 155, 339, 344-347, 443, 460,
491; introduction, I, 103; in-
vestigation, I, 369; labour, I,
432; II, 37.
Conzett, Conrad, II, 230, 230n, 270,
271 281.
Cook, Noah, I, 243, 248, 260n.
Cooper, Peter, I, 19; II, 240, 271,
271n.
Co-operation, Endorsed : Cleveland
Congress, II, 161 ; Illinois La-
bor Party, II, 228, 230; Labor
Congress, 1866, II, 107; Labor
Congress, 1867, II, 118, 119;
New England Working Men's
Association, I, 539; New York
Industrial Congress, I, 555,
556; socialists, I, 14; II, 231,
237; Sovereigns of Industry,
II, 171-175; syndicalism, II,
297, 298; trades' assembly, II,
23, 37; trades' union, I, 378,
436.
Theories: Andrews, S. P., I,
518; banking reform, I, 510;
collective bargaining, II, 326;
Greeley's profit-sharing, I, 507 ;
Lassalle, II, 206; Owen, I, 549;
profit-sharing, I, 608; retalia-
tory, I, 127, 128 ; Rochdale plan,
II, 40, 110, 205; Schulze-De-
litzsch's system, II, 206, 223;
self employment, I, 128-130;
substitute for strikes, I, 466,
565, 566; voluntary, II, 302;
Weitling's bank of exchange, X,
18, 513, 514, 566.
Ventures : building associations,
I, 519-521, 574; coopers, II, 76,
435, 437n; credit, I, 97, 98;
Crispins, II, 79, 140, 141, 152,
153; distributive, I, 95-100,
508, 509, 571-573; II, 39; Euro-
pean, I, 99, 100; failure, I, 570,
573; II, 151, 437, 438; farmers,
II, 489-491; furniture company,
II, 438n; German, I, 567, 568;
II, 223n; in 1836, I, 467-469;
in 1868, II, 124; in eighties, II,
431, 433n; in New England, I,
573; iron workers, I, 565, 569;
II, 53-56; Knights of Labor, II,
335, 351, 352, 430-438; news-
paper publication, I, 371; need,
I, 10; II, 113; productive, I,
57, 58-60, 75, 76, 85, 98, 568;
II, 41, 53-56, 110-112; sec-
tional distribution, II, 434; sta-
tistics, II, 433; tailors, I, 353,
569.
Coopers' Union, International, ap-
prenticeship, II, 84; co-opera-
tion, II, 76; federation, II, 157;
Foran, II, 75; growth, II, 75,
176; machinery, II, 74; organ-
ised, II, 46, 75, 313; Schilling,
II, 76.
Cordwainers, apprenticeship, I, 341 ;
collective bargaining, II, 121,
122; closed shop, I, 130-132,
411, 598; competition, I, 58-60;
conspiracy, I, 65, 131, 138-152;
co-operation, I, 97, 99, 441^43,
467; courts, I, 134; employer
membership, I, 118, 120; mini-
mum wage demands, I, 117; or-
ganise, I, 109, 114; prices, I,
64.
Cordwainers of Baltimore, conspir-
acv case, I, 138, 139; union,
I, '114.
Cordwainers, New York Journey-
men, closed shop theory, I, 131,
132; conspiracy cases, I, 138,
140, 143, 144; employer mem-
bers expelled, I, 119, 120;
grievances, I, 352; members, I,
105; organise, I, 352; strikes,
I, 124, 126, 383; women shoe
binders, I, 383.
Cordwainers of Philadelphia, bene-
fits, I, 123, 125, 136; boycott, I,
130; collective bargaining, I,
;98
INDEX
121, 122, 133; conspiracy case,
I, 138-141; co-operation, I, 97,
99, 128-130; depression, I, 456;
organise, I, 58, 109, 114, 132,
357; prices reduced, I, 65;
strikes, I, 126, 376, 392, 398,
399.
Cordwainers, Pittsburgh, appren-
ticeship, I, 117; benefits, I, 123,
125; collective bargaining, I,
121 ; conspiracy cases, I, 138,
144-146; minimum wage de-
mand, I, 117; prices regulated,
I, 60, 64.
Corrigan, Archbishop, condemns
single-tax, II, 456.
Cotton Mill Spinners' Union, estab-
lished, II, 313.
Cox, Trench, cited, I, 91.
Credit Societies, I, 81, 82.
Credit System, see Financial Sys-
tem.
Crittenden Compromise, labour's
support, II, 11; provisions, II,
lln.
Cummings, Samuel P., II, 138, 140,
142, 145.
Curtis, Josiah, M.D., hours of la-
bour, I, 541.
Custom-order Stage, building trade,
I, 66; capital, I, 54; competi-
tion, I, 44, 45; protective legis-
lation, I, 46-48; transition
from itinerant, I, 34-36.
Daily Evening Voice, II, 17; eight-
hour day, II, 31; supported by
trades' assembly, II, 24.
Danbury Hatters, case, II, 530.
Daniels, Newell, organised Knights
of Saint Crispin, II, 77.
Davis, John M., II, 199, 200n, 202,
235, 243, 246, 493.
Davis, William M., cited, II, 195.
Day, H. H., I, 19; II, 126, 153, 155,
169, 170.
Day, J. G., II, 254, 255n, 257.
Debs, Eugene V., II, 500-503, 508.
Delaware, militia law, I, 330, 331;
political action, I, 287-289; po-
litical demand, I, 299, 300;
unions, 1863-1864, II, 19.
Delaware Free Press, I, 288n.
De Leon, Daniel, II, 455, 517, 619.
Delnicke Listy, official labour organ,
II, 278.
Denmark, International Working-
men's Association, II, 215.
Depression, see Industrial Cycles.
Detroit, labour party, II, 277.
Deutsche Arbeiter Union, of Na-
tional Labor Union, II, 209.
Devyr, Thomas A., I, 532, 532n.
Division of labour, apprenticeship,
II, 81; effect on national
unions, II, 44.
Domestic Economy, market theory,
I, 26.
Donnelly, Ignatius, Greenback
Party, II, 170.
Douai, Adolph, II, 149, 224, 224n,
225, 275, 276, 286.
Douglass, Dr. Charles, I, 360, 380,
426, 428, 434.
Drury, Victor, co-operation, II, 433.
£
Earle, William H., organises Sover-
eigns of Industrv, II, 172.
Eberhardt, Karl, cite'd, II, 283.
Eccarius, J. George, II, 132, 212.
Edmonston, Gabriel, II, 328, 329,
411.
Education, children in factories, I,
182-184, 322; compulsory, II,
228, 229, 323, 324; Knights of
Labor, II, 335, 441; labour de-
mands, I, 223, 224, 296, 299-
301, 313, 318, 321-324, 327, 328,
427, 432, 470; opposition, I,
229, 230; Owen's plan, I, 247,
248, 249, 252, 273; Philadel-
phia report, I, 226, 227, 228;
public, I, 12, 170, 181, 182, 224,
258, 274, 286.
See also. Industrial Education.
Eight-hour Day, Demanded: Amer-
ican Federation of Labor, II,
376, 377, 485; Boston Eight-
Hour League, II, 140; Boston
Labor Reform Association, I,
91; California labour, 1865, II,
147, 148; Central Labor Union,
II, 391; Chicago Eight-Hour
League, II, 250, 285, 286, 391,
392; Cleveland, convention, II,
324; eight-hour leagues, II, 95;
Greenback Party, II, 250;
Knights of Labor, II, 336,
378, 379, 485; Labor Congress,
1866, 1867, II, 95, 118; machin-
ists, II, 57, 58; Massachusetts
INDEX
599
Eight-Hour League, I, 92; Na-
tional Labor Party, II, 209;
National Labor Union, II, 113;
New York Assembly, II, 95;
New York convention, II, 330;
Pittsburgh convention, II, 238,
324; Rochester convention, II,
165; Social Party, II, 208; so-
cialists, II, 276; Workingmen's
Party of California, II, 258.
Legislation: congress, II, 104,
105; government employes, II,
124; Massachusetts, II, 105-
107; President Johnson, II,
104; state, II, 105; 107-109.
Status: adoption, first instance
of, II, 87; bricklayers, II, 476,
478, 479n; brotherhoods win,
II, 528; cabinet makers, II,
225; carpenters, II, 424n, 477n;
failure, causes for, II, 109, 110;
gains, II, 378, 384; Haymarket
bomb, II, 386; in 1878, II, 177;
soldiers, return of, II, 94;
strikes, II, 385, 418, 475, 476,
477.
TheoriQp: employers' associations,
II, 30, 31; greenbackism versus,
II, 139, 140; make work, II,
479; " Stewardism," II, 89-91,
303.
Emancipator, Milwaukee, socialist
organ, II, 275.
Emerson, Ralph W., individualism,
I, 494.
Employers' Associations, Attitude :
apprenticeship, II, 51; black-
list, I, 403; closed shop, I, 404;
conspiracy, I, 406-410; eight-
hour movement, II, 30, 31: " ex-
clusive" agreements, II, 32;
Knights of Labor, II, 414; ma-
chinists, II, 56, 57; merchants'
associations, I, 132, 133; mould-
ers, II, 49; trade agreements,
II, 33; imionism, I, 133, 134;
II, 26, 27, 28, 44.
Organisation: central bodies, I,
403, 404; Boston Master Me-
chanics, II, 30; builders, II,
424; disintegration, II, 55; in
Michigan, II, 26-29; New York
Master Builders' Association,
II, 29, 30; Northwestern Pub-
lishers' Association, II, 61 ;
packers, II, 418; spread, I, 401,
402; stove manufacturers, II,
50-55.
English, William, I, 196n, 425, 426,
461.
Engineers, Machinists and Mill-
wrights, Amalgamated Society
of, Cleveland convention, II,
326; Pittsburgh convention, II,
321.
England, conspiracy laws, I, 125;
feudalism, I, 142; International
Workingmen's Association, II,
213, 216; textile workers, I,
111; trade unionists, II, 205.
Erie, Pennsylvania, People's Party,
I, 207.
Europe, co-operation, I, 99, 100;
guilds, I, 36; International
Workingmen's Associations, II,
215; socialists of, I, 18; social-
ists from, II, 196.
Evans, Chris, II, 403, 426.
Evans, George Henry, I, 5, 234, 237,
242, 243, 461, 522-524, 525,
527-531, 537, 559.
Factory Inspection, plank in state
labour party platform in New
York, II, 242.
Factory System, Brownson, I, 495;
condition, I, 320, 544; in New
England, I, 305, 306; in Pater-
son, I, 420, 421; opposition, I,
320, 321, 331, 428, 429; shoe
makers, II, 37; strikes, I, 418,
419, 420, 422, 423; trades'
union, I, 374, 418; women, I,
422.
Farmers' Alliance, Northern: activi-
ties, II, 489; Southern: co-op-
eration for legislative reform,
II, 490, 491; join Knights of
Labor, II, 491; organised, II,
488-490; programme, II, 492.
Farmers' and Laborers' Union of
America, organised, II, 488.
Farmer-consumer, favours protec-
tion, I, 41.
Faustus Association, fosters inven-
tions, I, 77.
Federalists, conspiracy laws, I, 139,
141.
Federation of Labor of New York,
organised, II, 517.
Federation of Organised Trades and
Labor Unions, conventions, II,
321-328, 376, 403; Knighta
600
INDEX
of Labor, II, 397; organised,
II, 309, 318; political action,
II, 463, 464; trade unions, II,
327.
Fehrenbatch, John, II, 157, 159, 175,
176.
Fellenberg, Emmanuel von, school at
Hofwyl, I, 247, 328.
Ferral, John, I, 312n, 390-392, 427,
429, 430, 531.
Ferrell, Frank, United Labor Party,
II, 459.
Fielden, Samuel, Chicago anarchist,
Haymarket Square, II, 393,
394.
Financial System, Conditions: con-
traction of currency, II, 151;
co-operation, I, 97, 98, 610; II,
112; extension, I, 7, 91, 92, 101,
102; failures of banks, I, 454;
Andrew Jackson, I, 347, 348;
legal tender acts, II, 14, 15;
politics, II, 142; "rag" money,
I, 349.
Opinions: Junior Sons of '76, II,
201, 202; labour, I, 180, 181,
296, 297, 298, 318-320, 330,
459; opposition, I, 220, 276,
277; Trades' Union, I, 435.
Eeforms: abolition of national
banks, II, 209, 236; Beck's
ticket exchange, I, 511; Kel-
logg's, I, 519; Muhlenberg, I,
460; Proudhonism, II, 139;
Weitling's bank of exchange, I,
514.
Finch, John, organises trades'
union, I, 358.
Fincher, Jonathan C, II, 7, 8, 15,
24, 25, 39, 56, 93, 97, 126, 128.
Fincher's Trades' Review, circula-
tion, II, 16; established, II, 15;
on co-operation, II, 110, 111; on
local unions, II, 17-21 ; on
moulder's organisation, II, 49;
on Rochdale plan, II, 40.
Fischer, Adolph, Chicago anarchist,
II, 393.
Fitzpatrick, P. F., II, 320, 412.
Foran, Martin A., cooper, I, 19; II,
75, 75n, 152, 157, 159, 176, 389,
463.
Ford, Ebenezer, and Working Men's
Party, I, 242, 255.
Foster, Frank, II, 327, 331.
Foster, W. A., II, 322, 324, 325,
328, 403, 406.
Fourierism, American, II, 204;
principles, I, 496, 497; produc-
tion, I, 498, 499.
See also, Brisbane; Association.
Fourier, Charles, co-operative an-
archist, I, 17, 18; principles, I,
496, 497.
France, solidarisme, I, 17.
Franklin, Benjamin, establishes loan
fund for mechanics, I, 79, 80;
organised printers, I, 87.
Franklin Institute, industrial edu-
cation, I, 78.
French Revolution, effect on indus-
try, I, 134.
Frick, H. C, Homestead strike, II,
496, 497.
Furniture Workers' National Union,
established, II, 226, 313;
Knights of Labor, II, 398.
G
Gag law, threatened, II, 257, 258.
Garment Cutters' Union, opposed
Knights of Labor, II, 197.
Garrison, William Lloyd, slavery, I,
525.
Gary, Joseph E., Judge, trial of
anarchists, II, 393, 394.
George, Henry, I, 563; II, 446-454,
457-461, 469.
Georgia, legal day, I, 544; regulates
profits, I, 51.
German Social Democratic Work-
ingmen's Union, joins Interna-
tional, II, 209, 210.
German Workingmen's Alliance,
programme, II, 204.
German Workingmen's Union, Gen-
eral, Lassallean programme, II,
207, 208; Social Party, II, 208,
209 ; Union in Germany, II, 208.
Germany, Franco-Prussian War and
socialism, II, 225; Interna-
tional Workingmen's Associa-
tion, II, 215.
Gibson, C. William, II, 102, 112, 115,
116, 126.
Gilchrist, Robert P., II, 10, 34, 145.
Oleicheit, Die, Austrian socialist's
organ, II, 221.
Gilmore, William, Trades* union
leader, I, 470.
Gold, discovery, I, 12.
Gompers, Samuel, II, 176, 306, 307,
321-329, 331, 347, 402, 409,
412, 458, 473, 478, 479, 485, 499,
INDEX
601
500, 501, 510, 510n, 512, 512n,
514, 517, 531, 531n.
Gould, Jay, II, 369, 370, 384.
Government ownership, and Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, II,
509-511; of railroads advo-
cated, II, 228, 231, 276.
Granite Cutters' National Union,
Cleveland convention, 1882, II,
326; established, II, 313;
Pittsburgh convention, 1881, II,
321
Greeley," Horace, I, 17, 170, 171, 500,
507, 533, 538, 544, 544n, 548,
570, 576, 577, 588, 604.
Green, General Duff, I, 342, 445,
448, 449.
Greenbackism, Conditions : depres-
sion, II, 122, 123, 170; prosper-
ity, II, 249.
In Labour Congresses: II, 119-
124, 128, 165, 245.
In Politics: California, II, 263;
congressional election of 1878,
II, 245, 246; democrats, II,
249 ; " Greenback and Labor "
combination, II, 243 ; National
Nominating Convention, II,
250; New York, II, 242; Ohio,
II, 248; Pennsylvania, II, 247;
Pomeroy clubs, II, 246; West,
II, 244.
Theories: anarchism versus, II,
121; Douai, II, 224; Kellogg-
ism, II, 120; Proudhonism, II,
139; socialism versus, II, 196,
237-239, 285-290; trade union-
ism versus, II, 223.
Greenback Labor Party, National,
Butler campaign, II, 440; fail-
ure, II, 251; in 1882, II, 439,
440; in Pennsylvania, II, 242,
243; national convention, II,
285; organised, II, 241-247.
Greenback Party, 1874-1877, con-
ventions, II, 168-170; Peter
Cooper, II, 171; depression, II,
170; power, II, 196, 197.
Grottkau, Paul, II, 281, 287, 296,
387, 516.
Guilds, breaking up, I, 8; char-
ters, I, 46, 48; European, I, 77;
organisation, I, 7; revival of
principle, I, 492.
Gunton, George, II, 302n, 304.
Hague, The, Congress of Interna-
tional Workingmen's Associa-
tion, II, 213, 215.
Hales, John, London General Coun-
cil, II, 212, 213.
Hanna, Mark, trade agreement, II,
180.
Harding, William, II, 96, 99, 116,
119.
Hardy, Thomas, common law, I, 148.
Haskell, Burnette G., II, 298, 299.
Hat Finishers Union, established, II,
313.
Hatters of the City of Philadelphia,
I, 157.
Haymarket bomb, II, 392-394;
eight-hour strike, II, 386.
Hebrew Trades, United, and Knights
of Labor, II, 519; organised in
New York, II, 518.
Heighton, William, education, I,
226.
Hennebery, Thomas, at Pittsburgh
convention, II, 321, 323.
Herttell, Thomas, abolition of im-
prisonment for debt, I, 328, 329.
Hewitt, Abram S., campaign, II,
450-452.
Heywood, Ezra A., anarchist, II,
126, 138, 138n.
Hinchcliffe, John, II, 17, 97, 99, 103,
115, 126, 152, 170.
Hine, Lucius A., I, 533; II, 128.
Hinton, Richard, II, 314n, 455.
Historical periods, characterised, I,
11-13; philosophies, I, 13, 14.
Hobson, J. A., production theory, I,
28.
Hogan. Thomas, I, 360, 425, 434,
461.
Horseshoers' Union, established, II,
313.
Homestead movement, see Land Pol-
icy.
Homework, Bucher's use of the
term, I, 33; merchant-capitalist
stage, I, 103.
Hours of Labour, bakers', I, 162;
Boston ship carpenters, I, 311,
312, 325; building trades, I,
188; carpenters, I, 69; in 1B39,
I, 172; labour parties, I, 331;
National Trades' Union, I, 433,
536; New England Working
Men's Association, I, 537, 539;
printers, I, 118; public employ-
ment, I, 192, 393-395; public
opinion, I, 174, 175; strikes for
shorter, I, 158-162, 183, 186-
602
INDEX
189, 386-392; II, 367; sunrise
to sunset system, I, 158, 171,
174, 186, 189n, 544; ten-hour
movement, I, 110, 159n, 235,
303, 307, 324, 366n, 384.
Legislation, legislative investiga-
tion, I, 436, 437, 540; ten-hour
law in New Hampshire, I, 541,
542; in New York, I, 542, 543;
in Pennsylvania, I, 543; in
other states, I, 543-545.
Theories: citizenship, I, 170-172,
384, 385; make- work, I, 545,
646.
See also, Eight-Hour Day.
Housewrights of Boston, promote
inventions, I, 76.
Howard, Robert, II, 321, 322, 328,
331, 463.
Humanitarianism, anti-Chinise agi-
tation, II, 267; apprenticeship,
I, 595; co-operation, I, 565;
high-water mark, I, 564; hours
of labour, I, 536, 541; in 1837,
I, 12; in forties, I, 14; union-
ism, I, 576.
See also, Agrarianism; Associa-
tion; Co-operation; Land Pol-
icy; Transcendentalism.
Hungary, Bureau for recruiting
contract labourers, II, 372.
Illinois, eight hour day, II, 108;
Knights of Labor, II, 381, 382 ;
unions, 1863, 1864, II, 19.
Immigration, decrease, 1855, 1856,
I, 616; increase, I, 413, 488,
489.
Character: change, I, 489, 490;
Chinese, II, 149, 150; contract,
II, 117, 118, 131, 324, 372, 373,
413, 414; German forty-eight-
ers, II, 204; in eighties, II,
360, 523.
Effects: competition, I, 9, 10; II,
86, 149, 150; hours of labour, I,
544; riots, I, 412, 415; strikes,
I, 597; II, 117, 179; trade union
membership, II, 315.
Imprisonment for Debt, abolition,
I, 221, 281, 296-298, 318;
wage-earner, I, 177-180, 22 In.
Incorporation of unions, before Con-
gress, II, 328; early attitude
toward, II, 314; Farmers' Alli-
ance, II, 489n; law, II, 409;
labour conventions, II, 165, 324,
325, 330 ; Charles Wilson's plan,
II, 66, 67.
Industrialism, first move, II, 312;
forms, II, 534, 535.
Industrialists, in Columbia Typo-
graphical Society, I, 137.
Industrial Brotherhood, beginning,
II, 196.
Industrial Congresses, 1845-1856,
aims, I, 558; bargain for votes,
I, 559; city, I, 551, 552, 557;
land reformers control, I, 550,
551; organised, I, 548; Owen's
world convention, I, 549.
Cleveland, 1873: call, II, 159;
constitution, II, 160; co-opera-
tion, II, 161; panic, II, 161;
political action, II, 161; trade
unionism, II, 160; representa-
tion, II, 159.
Indianapolis: constitution, II,
167; trade unions, II, 166.
New York, 1850: bargain for
votes, I, 559; control, I, 555,
561, 562; organised, I, 552;
purpose, I, 554; representation,
I, 553; trade unionism, I, 557.
Rochester, 1874: arbitration, II,
165; constitution, II, 162;
greenbackism, II, 164, 165; In-
dustrial Brotherhood, II, 163,
164; political action, II, 166;
representation, II, 162.
Industrial Cycles, Depression : ap-
prenticeship, II, 84; bank fail-
ures, 1837, I, 454, 455; causes,
II, 283; food riots, 1837, I, 12,
463, 464; greenbackism, II, 122,
168, 170, 245, 248, 249 ; in Cali-
fornia, II, 147, 148, 253, 267;
in 1829, I, 170; in 1833, I, 351;
in 1837-1852, I, 488, 489, 492;
in 1847, I, 564; in 1854, 1855,
I, 613-615; in 1857, IL 5; in
1861, II, 9, 10; in 1866-1868,
II, 115, 123, 124; in 1873-1879,
II, 195, 219, 220; in 1877, II,
185; in 1883-1885, II, 361, 362;
in 1893, II, 501; influence, I,
10; II, 472; Lassalleanism, II,
227, 228 ; prison labour, I, 369 ;
Sovereigns of Industry, II, 175;
strikes, I, 381, 382; unionism, I,
134-138, 456, 469, 614, 615; II,
46, 47, 161, 166, 175.
Prosperity : apprenticeship, II, 84 ;
in 1835, I, 348, 351 ; in 1862, II,
INDEX
603
14, 15; in 1869, II, 55; in 1898,
II, 621; influence, I, 10; II,
472 ; political action, I, 326 ; II,
143; socialism, II, 284; strikes,
I, 381, 382.
Industrial Education, apprentice-
ship, I, 77, 78; demand, I, 284,
300, 301, 322; funds, I, 84, 85;
labour, I, 226, 228, 328.
Industrial Workers of the World, I,
17; industrialism, II, 533, 534;
organised, II, 523; trade agree-
ment, II, 527.
Infidelity, workingman accused, I,
211-213, 254, 272, 273, 290, 293.
Ingersoll, Jared, in Philadelphia
conspiracy case, I, 139.
Injunctions, see Conspiracy.
Intellectuals, term explained, I, 19,
20; welcome International, II,
210.
See also, Andrews, Stephen Pearl;
Brisbane; Cooper, Peter; Day,
H. H.; Foran, Martin A.;
George, Henry; Greeley, H.;
Hinchcliffe; Kellogg, Edward;
Lloyd, Henry D.; McNeill,
George E.; Moore, Ely; Owen,
Robert; Owen, Robert Dale;
Sorge, F. A.; Steward, Ira;
Swinton, John ; Warren, Josiah ;
Wright, Frances.
International, Black, Central Labor
Union, II, 387; Chicago, II,
390; collapse, II, 394; Haymar-
ket Square bomb, II, 393, 394;
information bureau, II, 296; or-
ganised, II, 291; Pittsburgh
Convention, II, 293-296.
International, Bohemian Section,
formed, II, 209, 390.
International, French Section,
formed, II, 209.
International, Red, established, II,
298-299; Socialist Labor Party,
II, 300n.
International Working People's As-
sociation, see International,
Black.
Interstate Commerce Act, injunc-
tions, II, 505.
International Labor Union, conven-
tion, II, 305; failure, II, 306;
organised, II, 302; programme,
II, 303, 304; textile workers,
II, 304; unskilled, II, 280.
International Workingmen's Associ-
ation, Organisation : American
Confederation, II, 213; Ameri-
can forerunners, II, 206, 207;
Bakunin and Marx, II, 214, 215;
central committee, II, 210, 211;
councils, II, 212, 213, 215; Euro-
pean federations, II, 216, 269,
270, 271; nationalisation, II,
231, 269-271; National Labor
Union, II, 131 ; North American
Federation, II, 214; organs, II,
221, 222, 230, 390n; sections, II,
209, 210, 216, 217; secessionists,
II, 217, 233; unemployed, II,
219, 220; Union Congress, II,
270; United Workers of Amer-
ica affiliate, II, 222.
Theories: II, 86, 87, 302, 303;
immigration, II, 131, 132; Las-
salleanisation, II, 228, 229; po-
litical action, II, 205, 218, 219;
trade unionism, II, 205, 223-
226, 233, 234.
See also, Bakunin, Michael; Carl,
Conrad; Claflin, Tennessee;
Hales, John; Marx, Karl;
Sorge, F. A.; Stiebling, George
C; Woodhull, Victoria; Work-
ingmen's Party of United States.
Iowa, Greenbackism, II, 244, 248.
Irish World, The, supports Henry
George, II, 451.
Iron and Steel Workers, Amalga-
mated Association of, and A.
F. of L., II, 329 ; established, II,
313; Homestead strike, II, 495,
497; long strike, II, 181, 184,
185; organised, II, 179; trade
agreement, II, 179-181.
Iron Moulders, see Molders Interna-
tional Union.
Irons, Martin, Southwest strike, II,
383.
Ital3% contract labourers, II, 372.
Itinerancy, Bucher's use of the term,
I, 33; competition, I, 45, 48, 49,
67; wages, I, 51, 52.
Inventions, encouraged, I, 76, 77.
Jackson, Alexander, J. W., I, 430,
434.
Jackson, Andrew, I, 269, 270, 347,
348.
Jarrett, John, II, 321-325, 329, 468.
Jessup, William J., II, 108, 113, 115,
116, 123, 124, 126, 133, 211.
604
INDEX
Johnson, Andrew, I, 103, 104, 124,
562.
John Swinton's Paper, boyeott, II,
364, 365; contract labour, II,
372; National Union Labor
Pai-ty, II, 465; strikes, II, 363;
trade unions and the Knights,
II, 414.
Jonas, Alexander, II, 278, 300.
Journeyman, Conditions : bricklay-
ers, I, 405; class conflict, I, 64;
competition, control, I, 57; com-
petition, convicts, I, 155, 344-
347; competition, women, I,
342-344 ; merchant-capitalist
system, I, 339, 379; politics, I,
234; printing trade, I, 446, 447,
448; Weitling, I, 514.
Demands: apprenticeship, I, 339',
340-342, 590-595 ; ten-hour day,
I, 159-162, 234, 310.
Junior Sons of '76, call national la-
bour convention, II, 201, 202,
235; organised, II, 196, 201;
platform, II, 202n.
Jurassian Federation, Bakunin's
stronghold, II, 215.
K
Kalloch, I. S. Reverend, mayor of
San Francisco, II, 261, 262.
Kearney, Denis, II, 249, 250, 254-
264.
Kellogg, Edward, I, 20, 519, 556;
II, 119-121, 225.
Kelley, 0. H., and Patrons of Hus-
bandry, II, 172.
Kennady, A. M., II, 113, 147, 147n,
148.
Kentucky, unions, 1863, 1864, II, 19.
Klinge, Karl, socialist, II, 228, 230,
273.
Knight,' H. L., II, 255, 259, 261.
Knights of Labor, Conventions:
Cincinnati, 1891, II, 494; Cleve-
land, 1882, II, 326 ; District As-
sembly 1 at Philadelphia, 1876,
II, 333; District Assembly 3 at
Pittsburgh, II, 333; Minneapolis
General Assembly, II, 412, 413;
Omaha, 1892, II, 494; Pitts-
burgh, 1876, II, 236, 239; Pitts-
burgh, 1881, II, 321, 322: Read-
ing, II, 335 ; Richmond, II, 408 ;
Terre Haute, II, 318-320.
Organisation: assemblies, II, 197,
199-201; beginnings, II, 196,
197; centralisation, II, 334; ele-
ments, II, 344, 345, 382, 482,
488, 492 ; form, II, 339 ; growth,
II, 339, 344, 350, 381, 396, 413,
414, 422, 423, 482; Ocean Asso-
ciation, II, 420 ; resistance fund,
II, 340, 341; sojourners, II,
198; Southern Farmers' Alli-
ance, II, 489, 491.
Policies: arbitration, 11, 374;
boycott, II, 317, 364, 365, 419,
444; Catholic Church, II, 339;
co-operation, I, 18; II, 351, 352,
430-438; eight-hour movement,
II, 378, 379, 392, 485; immigra-
tion, II, 372, 373; monopoly, II,
362; political action, II, 243,
351, 462, 463, 488, 493; princi-
ples, II, 198, 335, 495; secrecy,
II, 201, 232, 338, 339; socialism,
II, 519; strikes, II, 200, 334,
347-350, 367-369, 383, 384, 394,
416, 417, 419, 420-422, 483,
483n, 498, 499.
Trade LTnions: American Fed-
eration of Labor, II, 484, 488;
attitude, II, 352 ; brewery work-
ers, II, 488; conflict, 11, 397-
399, 402, 405, 406, 409, 484; fed-
eration, II, 328, 329 ; machinists,
II, 486; miners, II, 425, 426,
487; moulders, II, 344n, 401n;
movement within, II, 342, 346,
427; trade assemblies, II, 428,
486; trade councils, II, 311n.
See also, Powderly, Terence V.;
Sovereign, James R.
Knights of Saint Crispin, aims, II,
77; apprenticeship, II, 84; Chi-
nese labour, II, 141, 149; co-
operation, II, 79, 140, 141, 152;
eight-hour day, II, 140; factory
system, II, 76, 77; green hands,
II, 77; in seventies, II, 152,
153; Knights of Labor, II, 200,
345; membership, II, 177; or-
ganised, II, 77; Phillips,
Thomas, II, 39, 40n; political
action, II, 140; strikes, II, 77,
78.
Kommunistischen Klub in New
York, II, 207n.
Kriege, Herman, and land reform,
I, 534, 535.
Label, anti-Chinese, II, 266, 267,
INDEX
605
401; cigar makers, II, 266n,
401n; endorsed, II, 330;
Knights of Labor, II, 40 In, 435.
Labour Congresses, 1866: co-opera-
tion, II, 101 ; eight-hour ques-
tion, II, 98; land question, II,
100, 101; organisation, II, 101,
102; political action, II, 99;
representation, II, 96, 97; trade
unionism, II, 98; women in in-
dustry, II, 101.
1867: constitution, II, 116; co-
operation, II, 118, 119; eight-
hour day, II, 118; greenbackism,
II, 119; immigration, II, 116—
118; Negro, II, 118; principles,
II, 122; representation, II, 115.
1868: greenbackism, 11, 128; po-
litical action, II, 125, 129;
representation, II, 126; strikes,
II, 129; women present, II, 127,
128.
1869: acts, II, 134, 135n; effect of
Sylvis' death, II, 134; repre-
sentation, II, 133.
1870: Chinese problem, II, 146;
constitution, II, 146; Negro
question, II, 144, 145; political
action, II, 145, 146; representa-
tion, II, 144.
Labour Conventions, National, Alle-
ghany City, 1879, II, 284, 285;
Baltimore Congress, 1866, II,
96; carpenters, 1836, I, 452;
cigar makers, 1864, 11, 69; Cin-
cinnati, 1887, II, 464, 465 ; Cin-
cinnati, 1891, II, 494; Cleve-
land, 1873, II, 159-161; Cleve-
land, 1875, II, 169; Cleveland,
1882, II, 326-328; Columbus,
1886, II, 409-412; combmakers,
1836, I, 452; currency reform-
ers, 1878, II, 244; Indmnapolis,
1874, II, 166-168; industrial,
1870, II, 153; Knights of Labor,
II, 333, 334, 407, 493; Labor
Congress, 1867, II, 115-122;
1868, II, 125, 130; 1869, II,
133; 1870, II, 144-147; loom
weavers, 1836, I, 453; Louis-
ville, 1864, II, 35, 36; Machin-
ists and Blacksmiths, 1861, II,
13; National Trades' Union,
1834, I, 425-429; National
Trades' Union, 1835, I, 430-
433; National Trades' Union,
1836, I, 433-436; Newark, 1877,
II, 277-279; New York, 1883,
II, 328; nominating, 1876, II,
170; Omaha, 1892, II, 494;
Philadelphia, 1861, II, 11;
Philadelphia, 1886, II, 403;
Pittsburgh, 1876, II, 236; Pitts-
burgh, 1881, II, 321-326; Pitts-
burgh, 1883, II, 293-296; Roch-
ester, 1874, II, 162-165; St.
Louis farmers, 1889, II, 490^
492; Terre Haute, 1881, II, 318-
320; Typographical Union, 1837,
I, 450, 453; Tyrone, 1875, II,
235.
Labour Papers, American Banker
and Workingmen's Leader, II,
16; Arbeiter, II, 16; Baltimore
Trades' Union, I, 360; Chicago,
II, 282; Ghicagoer Arheiter-
Zeitung, II, 282; Daily Press,
I, 617; II, 17, 23; depression,
I, 456; in 1863-1873, II, 15-17;
International Labor Union, II,
304; Journal, I, 248; Mechan-
ic's Own, II, 16; Miner and Ar-
tisan, II, 17; 'National La-
bourer, I, 360, 375; National
Trades' Union, I, 360 ; New Eng-
land Artisan, I, 360; New Eng-
land Mechanic, II, 16; official,
I, 360; II, 278, 281; People's
Rights, I, 527; Philadelphia
Trades' Union, I, 360; Portland
Mechanic, I, 291; Practical Poli-
tician and Workingmen's Advo-
cate, T, 291; Reform, Die, I,
618; Republik der Arbeiter, I,
507; revolutionary, I, 564; Sen-
tinel, I, 248, 268 ; Soziale Repub-
lik, II, 16; Subterranean, I,
527; Washingtonian, I, 360;
Working Man's Advocate, II,
16; Working Man's National
Advocate, II, 618; Working
Man's Party, I, 268; Young
America, I, 530.
See also. Alarm, The; Arbeiter-
stimme; Arbeit erstimme des
Westens; Arbeiter-Zeitung ;
Boycotter, The; Daily Evening
Voice; Delaware Free Press;
Delnicke Listy; Emancipator,
Milwaukee ; Fincher's Trades'
Review; Gleicheit, Die; John
Siointon's Paper; Labor Stand-
ard; Leader, The; Mechanics'
Free Press; Milwaukee Sozial-
ist; National Socialist; Neto
Yorker Volkszeitung ; Nye Tid;
606
INDEX
Socialist; Sozial-Demokrat ; So-
zialist, Der; Standard, The;
Tageblatt, Philadelphia ; Vor-
bote; Woodhull and Claflin's
Weekly.
Labour Partv, early attempts to
form, I, 17, 18.
Labor Party of Illinois: Lassallean
ideas, II, 227; International, II,
233; organisation, II, 228; po-
litical action, II, 229, 230;
trade unionism, II, 228; Union
Congress, II, 270.
See also Vorhote.
Labor Party of Newark, joins Social
Democrat Party of N. A., II,
230.
Labor Standard, control, II, 275;
Newark convention, II, 278; so-
cialist organ, II, 271; trade
unionism, II, 274.
Laissez-faire, argument of journey-
men, I, 150.
Lake Seamen's Union, Cleveland
convention, II, 326; established,
II, 313; Terre Haute Confer-
ence, II, 318.
See also. Powers, Richard.
Land Policy, Bovay's, I, 549 ; class
struggle, I, 4; free land, I, 4,
526; II, 360; government, I,
562; Hine, II, 128; homestead
law, 1862, I, 562; immigration,
I, 489; Industrial Congresses, I,
550, 651, 557, 558, 561; II, 100,
101; Kriege, I, 534, 535; manu-
facturers, I, 562; rents, limita-
tion of, I, 558; single-tax reso-
lution, II, 327; slave holders, I,
563; Trades' Union, I, 428, 433;
western ideas, I, 563.
See also, Agrarianism.
Lassalle, Ferdinand, II, 205-207.
Lassallean ism, Campbell's money re-
form, II, 121; Chicago, II, 272,
273; depression, II, 227, 228;
German, II, 207; German
Workingmen's Union, General,
II, 207; Marxism, II, 270,
271; political action, II, 206,
271; trade unionism, II, 271-
274.
See also, Klinge, Karl; Labor
Party of Illinois; Lyser, Gus-
tav; McGuire, P. J.; Schlagel,
E.; Social Democratic Party of
North America; Strasser,
Adolph.
Layton, T?. D., and Kjiights of La-
bor, II, 321n.
Leader, The, George-Hewitt cam-
paign, II, 451; socialism, II,
451, 459.
League of Deliverance, boycott of
Chinese goods, II, 267.
Leffingwell, Samuel L., Cleveland
convention, 1882, II, 321 ; Pitts-
burgh convention, 1881, II, 322;
Terre Haute convention, II, 319.
Legal tender acts, see Financial sys-
tem.
Lehr and Wehr Verein, militarism,
II, 280, 387.
Liebknecht, Wilhelm, German corre-
spondent of Arbeiter Zeitung,
II, 221.
Litchman, Charles H., II, 79, 250,
408n, 468.
Lloyd, Henry D., I, 19; warns
against monopoly, II, 360.
jLOckouts, Boston printers, II, 17 ;
Boston ship-carpenters, II, 312;
brewery workers, II, 488;
Champion Reaper Company, II,
415; Chicago brick layers, II,
423-425; Chicago packing in-
dustry, II, 385n, 418, 419; in
1886, II, 417n; Jamestown, II,
414; knit goods, II, 418; Mc-
Cormick Reaper Company, II,
392; Moberly, Missouri, II, 368,
369; Philadelphia cordwainers,
I, 122; policy, II, 195; Troy, II,
418.
Locomotive Engineers, Brotherhood
of, Arthur, P. M., II, 67, 68;
benefit system, II, 68; Brother-
hood of the Footboard, II, 62;
growth, II, 47; incorporation,
II, 66; organised, II, 62; piece
work, II, 62; railway consolida-
tion, II, 61, 62; strike on Mich-
igan Southern, II, 64, 65; Wil-
son, II, 63, 67.
Lottery System, demand for aboli-
tion, i, 223.
Lowell, factorv system, I, 429; poli-
ties, I, 316.
Lowell Female Labor Reform Asso-
ciation, hours of labour, I, 539.
Lucker, Labor Congress, 1868, II»
126; on conspiracv, II, 133.
Luther, Seth, I, 312, 319, 325, 380,
422n.
Lynn, shoemakers of, I, 103, IQ5;
women organise, I, 355.
INDEX
607
Lyser, Gustav, II, 232, 233, 272, 281.
MacFarlane, Kobert, and prison la-
bour, I, 492.
McBride, John, II, 199, 364, 513.
McCormick Harvester Company,
lockout, II, 392.
McDonald, Mary, II, 127, 129.
McDonnell, J. P., II, 222, 226, 271,
274, 280, 288, 302, 304, 306, 308.
McGlynn, Father, II, 453-461.
McGuire, P. J., II, 23 In, 232, 235,
270, 271, 275, 270, 286, 302,
308n, 314n, 319. 325, 403, 404,
412, 418, 428, 442, 510n.
McLaughlin, William J., II, 138,
140, 142.
McMakin, John, II, 446, 454, 455,
457.
McNamara, dynamite case, II, 528.
McNeill, George E., I, 19; II, 92n,
138-142, 163, 165, 184.
Machinery, introduction, II, 44, 75,
358; in shoe industry, II, 76,
77.
See also. Bargaining Power; Com-
petition.
Machinists and Blacksmiths, Na-
tional Union of, apprenticeship,
II, 84; co-operation, II, 112;
depression, II, 9, 10; eight-hour
movement, II, 57, 58, 89, 95;
federation, II, 157 ; grievances,
II, 8; growth, II, 9, 20, 45, 47,
176; intellectual ascendency, II,
56; Knights of Labor, II, 200;
Labor Congress, 1866, II, 13;
national trades' assembly, II,
39 ; New York picketing bill, II,
23n; organised, II, 6, 9; Pitts-
burgh convention, 1861, II, 13;
revival, 1870, II, 58; strike
against Baldwin Locomotive
Works, II, 9.
Macune, Dr. C. W., II, 489, 491.
Maine, Charitable Mechanics Asso-
ciation, I, 79; Greenbackism, II,
245; monopoly grants, I, 40;
subsidised steel industry, I, 37;
ten-hoiir law, I, 54; unions,
1863-1864, II, 19.
Market, theories of Schmoller and
Biicher, I, 26, 27; versus pro-
duction theories, I, 26-29.
Markets, Extension of, Development:
causes, I, 6 ; canals, I, 438, 439 ;
Civil War, II, 22; colonial
period, I, 5, 6, 28; domestic
market propaganda, I, 73, 89,
91, 92; historical view, I, 6;
itinerant to custom-order stage,
I, 36, 37; railroads, I, 8, 153,
154, 439; II, 3-5, 61, 148, 358;
retail shop to wholesale-order
period, I, 61-63.
Influence: agriculture, I, 32, 33;
apprenticeship, II, 81 ; Califor-
nia industries, II, 148; class
antagonism, I, 26-28, 106; com-
petition, commodity, I, 440;
competition, labour, I, 440, 441 ;
II, 43, 44; contracts, I, 29; co-
operation, I, 95-100; export
trade, I, 149; locomotive engi-
neers, II, 61; merchant capital-
ist, I, 101-104, 338; moulders'
trade, II, 6; national trade
union, I, 441; production, I, 71;
typographical union, II, 58;
wholesale jobber, II, 359.
Marx, Karl, I, 20, 26-29, 44; II,
204, 205, 207, 214, 215.
Maryland, trade regulations, I, 4;
unions, 1863, 1864, II, 19.
Massachusetts, bread assize, I, 52,
55; bounties granted, I, 37, 38,
39, 43; child labour investiga-
tion, I, 331 ; Chinese labour, II,
149; Greenbackism, II, 246; lot-
tery conducted, I, 93; Mechan-
ics' Association, I, 73; monopo-
lies granted, I, 40; politics, I,
315-318; II, 92, 102, 138-144;
price regulation, I, 50-52; qual-
ity regulation, I, 47; ten-hour
movement, I, 546; unemploy-
ment, 1837, I, 457; unions, 1863,
1864, I, 19, 20; women cigar
makers, I, 343.
See also, Boston.
Masquerier, Lewis, I, 523, 531, 532,
547.
Master Mechanics' Benevolent Soci-
ety, benefits, I, 85.
Mazzini, Joseph, harmony of capital
and labour, II, 205.
Mechanics of Boston, Associated, I,
74.
Mechanics and Manufacturers, Asso-
ciation of. Providence, promote
inventions, I, 76, 77.
Mechanics and Tradesmen, General
Society of, I, 72; activities, I,
81; credit facilities, I, 89; in-
608
INDEX
corporated, I, 84; letter to As-
sociated Mechanics of Boston,
I, 74.
Mechanics and Tradesmen of the
County of Kings, incorporation,
I, 86, 87.
Mechanics of Massachusetts, Asso-
ciation of, I, 73, 77.
Mechanics' Free Press, circulation,
I, 205; election results, I, 204,
213, 215; influence, I, 207, 210;
mechanics' lien law, I, 220, 280;
political action, I, 239; Work-
ingmen's Measures, I, 217, 218.
Mechanics' liens, I, 12; II, 324; agi-
tation, I, 220, 221, 279, 296, 297,
318; Knights of Labor, II, 336;
labour parties, I, 329.
Mechanics' Union of Trade Associa-
tions, I, 15; decline, I, 191, 192;
politics, I, 191; purposes, I, 190.
Merchants' Associations, and em-
ployers' associations, I, 132, 133.
Merchant-capitalist, apprenticeship,
I, 339-341; ascendency, I, 104,
154; coming, I, 101, 102; con-
vict labour, I, 344-347; cord-
wainers, I, 441; labour-cost the-
ory of exchange, I, 510; master
and journeymen unite against,
I, 379; production, I, 338, 339;
retailer, I, 17; ship-building in-
dustry, I, 309, 310; shoe in-
dustry, II, 78; sweating intro-
duced, I, 102, 103; Weitling, I,
543.
Metal Workers' Federation Union of
America, model syndicalist
union, II, 297, 298.
Metal Workers Union, Armed Sec-
tion of, II, 388.
Meyer, Siegfried, II, 207, 209.
Micalonda, J., and Black Interna-
tional, II, 296.
Militarism, socialist, II, 280, 281,
284.
Militia system, abolition demanded,
I, 281, 282, 296, 298, 318; bur-
den, I, 180; in Pennsylvania,
1822, I, 221, 222.
Miller, Joseph D., I, 434, 470.
Milwaukee, Knights of St. Crispin
organised, II, 77; socialism, II,
273, 274, 277, 533.
Milwaukee, Sozialist, II, 233.
Mine Workers of America, United,
organisation, II, 487, 500.
Miners and Mine Laborers of United
States, National Federation of,
interstate agreement, II, 426;
organised, II, 425.
Miners' Benevolent and Protective
Association, II, 211.
Miners' National Association, and
Knights of Labor, II, 200.
Ming, Alexander, Sr., I, 240, 245.
Minimum Wage, demanded, I, 104,
117, 118; first strike for, I,
25.
Missouri, Greenbackism, II, 248;
unions, 1863, 1864, II, 19.
Mitchell, John, and education, I,
226.
Molders' International Union, Iron,
apprenticeship, II, 50, 84; bene-
fits, II, 175n; co-operation, II,
53-56; employers' associations,
II, 49; epitomizes labour move-
ment, II, 48; growth, II, 45,
46 ; Knights of Labor, II, 352n ;
Labor Congress, 1866, II, 96;
lethargy of 1861, 1862, II, 14;
locals, II, 120; New York pick-
eting bill, II, 23n; organised,
II, 5, 7, 313; strikes, II, 51, 52,
56; war activities, II, 49; weak-
ness, II, 7.
Molly Maguires, Ancient Order of
Hibernians, II, 181, 187; "long
strike," II, 184, 185 ; McParlan,
James, II, 184; organised, II,
196; politics, II, 183; secrecy,
II, 201; trial, II, 185; violence,
II, 181, 183, 184n.
Monopoly, abolition demanded, I,
218, 219, 296, 298, 318, 458,
459; corporations, I, 458, 459;
grants, I, 40, 43, 44.
Moore, Ely, I, 20, 360, 367n, 369-
371, 394, 425, 461, 463.
Morgan, Thomas J., II, 279, 282,
283, 289, 387, 509.
Most, Johann, 293n, 294.
Muhlenberg, Henry A., I, 459, 460,
461.
Mule Spinners' Association, Na-
tional, at Cleveland convention,
1882, II, 326.
Murch, Thompson, II, 245, 249, 327,
329.
Musicians' Union, I, 8 ; similarity to
guilds, I, 55.
Mutual loans, by early protective
organisations, I, 81, 82.
Myers, Isaac I., Negro labour move-
ment, II, 137, 144, 145.
INDEX
609
N
Napoleonic wars, depression follow-
ing, I, 134-138.
National economy, I, 26, 27.
National Labor Congress, of 1874,
II, 190.
National Laborer, cited, I, 99; on
co-operation, I, 468.
National Labor Union, after 1870,
II, 153; Die Arbeit cr Union af-
filiates, II, 223; Chinese ques-
tion, II, 149, 150; conventions,
II, 142, 153-155, 227; disinte-
gration, II, 155, 157; eight-
hour day, II, 87, 94, 142; green-
backism, II, 123, 224; immigra-
tion, II, 116-118; in 1867, II,
112; International Working-
men's Association, II, 86, 87,
131, 132, 206, 208, 209; labour
congresses, II, 90-102, 115-118,
125-130, 133, 134, 144-147;
Negro, II, 137; New England
Labour Reform League, II, 139;
organised, II, 86; political ac-
tion, II, 141, 145, 146; trade
unionism, II, 152; Sylvis, II,
130, 131; Trevellick, II, 137,
138.
National Party, demands, II, 245;
Greenback platform, II, 241;
organised, II, 244, 245.
National Reform Association, need
for organisation, I, 547.
See also, Industrial Congress.
National Socialist, policy, II, 280;
publication suspended, II, 281.
National Union Labor Party, order
of the Videttes, II, 469, 470;
organised, II, 465; political re-
sults, II, 466-470.
Neebe, Oscar, pardoned, II, 393.
Negro, anti-slavery agitation, I, 4,
12; labour problem, II, 114, 116,
118, 135, 619; organisation, II,
135, 136, 137, 145, 312; Repub-
lican party, II, 136, 145, 146.
Newark, Workingmen's Party Con-
vention, II, 277, 278.
New Democracy, platform, II, 210;
failure and reorganisation, II,
210, 211.
New England, banks, I, 348; child
labour, I, 320, 321; education,
I, 300, 321-324; greenbackism,
II, 245; ship-building, I, 309,
310; ten-hour movement, I, 325;
women in factories, I, 422;
workingmen's movement, I, 290-
293, 298, 299.
See also, Boston; Connecticut;
Massachusetts ; New Hamp-
shire; Rhode Island; Vermont.
New England Association of Farm-
ers, Mechanics, and Other
Workingmen, aims, I, 306, 307,
318, 319; banking system, I,
319, 320; child labour, I, 320,
321; class lines, I, 304; conven-
tions, I, 308, 309, 312-315; edu-
cation, I, 183, 184, 321-324;
factory conditions, I, 305, 306,
320, 321, 331; organised, I, 302,
306, 314, 315; political action,
I, 309, 315; Thompsonville case,
I, 313; trades' unions, I, 314.
New England Boot and Shoe Last-
ers, established, II, 313,
New England Labour Reform
League, convention, 1869, II,
138; eight-hour day, II, 139;
Proudhonism and the Intellec-
tuals, II, 139.
New England Society for the Pro-
motion of Manufactures and
Mechanic Arts, sales, I, 98.
New England Working Men's Asso-
ciation, 1844-1849, association-
ists control, I, 538; conventions,
I, 537-540 ; co-operation, I, 539 ;
political action, I, 539; ten-hour
day, I, 537-540.
New Hampshire, Greenbackism, II,
244; ten-hour law, I, 541; trade
restrictions, I, 39; unions, 1863,
1864, II, 19.
New Haven, labour party, II, 277;
trade restrictions, I, 39.
New Jersey, bounties, I, 39, 92; edu-
cation, 1835, I, 182; eight-hour
law, II, 107; lotteries, I, 93;
political action, I, 286; unions,
1863, 1864, II, 19.
New York, apprenticeship, I, 77,
78; bread assize, I, 52-54; Cen-
tral Labor Union, II, 441 ; city
assembly, I, 456; city industrial
congresses, I, 552, 553; commis-
sion stores, I, 94; conspiracy
cases, I, 164, 409, 410; coopers,
I, 56; corporations, I, 458; edu-
cation, I, 328; eight-hour day,
II, 108; employers' associations,
I, 402, 404; General Society of
Mechanics and Tradesmen, I, 72,
610
mDEX
81; greenbackism, II, 240, 242,
246, 248; housing conditions, I,
490, 491; labour party, II, 277;
mechanics' liens, I, 329; militia
law, I, 330; politics in 1835, I,
461-465; printers, I, 50, 109,
112, 113, 133, 134, 580, 581;
prison reform, I, 346; unem-
ployment, I, 135, 457; rag
money, I, 349; rents, I, 349;
riots, I, 415, 416, 417; social-
ism, II, 282; social party, II,
207-209 ; state Workingmen's
Assembly, II, 211; strikes, I, 53,
54, 55, 110, 111, 157, 365, 382,
383, 395-397, 478-484, 576; II,
151, 178, 367n; ten hour bill, I,
542, 543; Trades and Labour
Council, II, 226; Trades' Union
Convention, I, 425, 430; union-
ism, I, 109, 337, 358, 363, 364,
366; II, 19, 20; United Labor
Party, II, 455 ; women organise,
I, 356.
See also, Cordwainers; New York
Journeymen; Typographical So-
ciety; Working Men's Party.
New York Amalgamated Trades and
Labor Union, enforced boycotts,
II, 311.
'New Yorker Volkszeitung, green-
backism, II, 286, 287, 288;
Henry George, II, 451; social-
ism, II, 300, 449.
Nye Tid, Chicago socialist paper, II,
282; agitates against Green-
back compromise, II, 287.
Ohio, eight-hour law, II, 107;
greenbackism, II, 241, 247; ten-
hour law, I, 543.
Ohio, State Miners' Union, and
Hocking Valley Strike, II, 363.
Open Shop, and the trust, II, 526.
Open Union, inelfective weapon, II,
195.
Orvis, John, II, 138, 173.
Owen Robert, I, 14, 173, 493, 494,
538, 548, 549.
Owen, Robert Dale, I, 20, 226n, 240,
240n, 242, 243, 247-253, 260ti,
272, 273n.
Owenism, I, 14; revival, I, 504.
Panics, see Industrial Cycles.
Parsons, Albert R., anarchist, II,
250n, 273, 279, 282, 283, 284n,
289, 291, 296, 302, 389, 390, 392-
394.
Parsons, Lucy E., and tramps, II,
389.
Paterson, cotton operatives' strike,
I, 418.
Patrons of Husbandry, II, 196.
Pennsylvania, banking reform, I,
330; bounties granted, I, 37, 38,
39, 42; cabinet makers, I, 99,
336, 337, 467; child labour, I,
331; education, I, 223-229, 328;
eight-hour lav/, II, 108; factory
workers, II, 375, 419, 420;
Franklin Institute, I, 78; green-
backism, II, 242, 244, 245, 247 ;
militia law, I, 221, 222; Molly
Maguires, II, 181-185; politics,
I, 195, 459-461 ; price regula-
tion, I, 50; ten-hour legislation,
I, 543 ; unions, II, 19, 20.
See also, Philadelphia; Working
Men's Party.
Pennsylvania Society to Encourage
Manufactures, I, 74; extends
credit, I, 91, 92; opens ware-
house, I, 94.
Peoples' Party, organised, II, 494;
platform, II, 509; trade unions,
II, 512.
People's Party of Erie, Pennsylva-
nia, organised, I, 207.
People's Party of Wisconsin, plat-
form, II, 462.
Personal Rights, against property
rights, I, 12.
Phelps, Alfred W., II, 113, 115, 118,
126.
Philadelphia, banks, I, 219n; cabinet
makers, I, 336, 337; carpenters.
I, 68, 78, 80-82, 84, 97, 118, 127,
128; commission stores, I, 94;
conventions, I, 214, 333, 434, 470,
471; II, 11, 209, 270; co-opera-
tion, I, 96, 97, 467-469; educa-
tion, I, 226, 227, 469; employ-
ers' associations, I, 402, 403;
greenbackism, II, 247 ; lotteries,
I, 93; marketing agency, I, 100;
population, I, 176n, 490; riots,
I, 407; strikes, I, 25, 69, 186-
189, 383, 389-392, 397-399, 399-
401, 417, 478-484, 676; trade
INDEX
611
unionism, I, 109, 114, 169, 184,
189-191, 351, 352, 359, 363, 375;
II, 24-26, 277; unemployment,
I, 135; women organise, I, 343,
355.
See also, Cordwainers of Phila-
delphia.
Philadelphia Aurora, defends cord-
wainers, I, 142.
Philadelphia Domestic Society, I,
92; dividends, I, 99; opens
warehouse, I, 94.
Philadelphia Journeymen House
Painters' Association, and
trades' assembly, II, 24.
Philadelphia Society of Master
Cordwainers, purpose, I, 132;
purpose changed, I, 133, 134.
Phillips, Thomas', II, 16, 39n, 40,
110.
Phillips, Wendell, II, 88n, 102, 138,
140, 142, 143, 144n, 155.
Pinkerton detectives, strike breakers,
II, 186, 366, 415, 496, 497.
Pittsbura:h. conventions, II, 292,
321-326, 333; labour party, II,
277.
Pittsburgh and Vicinity Manufac-
turing Association, co-operative
marketing. I, 95; dividends, I,
99; sales, I, 98.
See also, Cordwainers of Pitts-
burgh.
Pittsburgh INIanifesto of Interna-
tional Working People's Associ-
ation, II, 295.
Political Commonwealth, see New
Democracy.
Political Action, Beginning, I. 18.
Elections: 1830, I, 262-208,
287-289, 290-294; 1832, I, 269;
1836, 1837, I, 465, 466; 1866,
II, 102; 1876, II. 171; 1877, II,
273, 277, 279; 1878, II, 245,
246; 1879, II, 2R2-284; 1880,
II, 290; 1886, II, 462, 463;
1887, II, 466-470.
Issues: aofrarianisra, I, 531; anti-
monopoly, II, 108; Chinese, II,
260-262; class antagonism, I,
192, 193; eight-hour day, I,
103-109; financial reform, IT,
142; greenbackism, II, 242, 243,
250: in 1828, I, 216; in 1830,
I, 217, 221-229; in 1877, I, 274-
284; in 1892, II, 518; land re-
form, I, 535; Lassalleanism, II,
227-234; religion, I, 272, 273;
Stewardiam, II, 91; ten-hour
day, I, 537-539.
Massachusetts: 1833, 1834, I,
315-317; 1865, II, 92; 1869, II,
141, 142; 1876, II, 143, 144.
New Jersey, I, 287.
New York: 1829, I, 238-240;
1830, I, 232; 1835, I, 461-465;
1877, II, 242.
Ohio: II, 248.
Opinions: farmers' alliance, II,
489; Lassalle, II, 206; news-
papers, I, l44; Schilling, Rob-
ert, II, 163; socialist, II, 278,
279, 449; Walsh, I, 528.
Organised Labour : American Fed-
eration of Labor, II, 509, 529;
Central Labor Union, II, 444,
446; convention action, I, 558-
560; II, 99, 100, 129, 130, 153,
154, 155, 161, 238, 324, 327;
Crispins, II, 140, 153; Federa-
tion of Organised Trades, II,
463, 464; International Work-
ingmen's Association, II, 218,
219, 250; Knights of I>abor, II,
341, 350-352, 488, 492-493; Me-
chanics' Union of Trade Associ-
ations, I, 191; Molly Maguires,
II, 183; National Labor tjnion,
II, 114; trade union, II, 152,
158, 317; trades' assemblies, II,
23, 38; trades' union, I, 361,
410, 411, 426.
Pennsylvania: 1828, I, 195, 459-
461; II, 247.
Philadelphia, II, 93.
Political Parties, anti-monopoly, II,
264; Equal Rights, I, 463-465;
Erie People's, I, 207, 208; Fe-
male Labor Reform Association,
I, 533; Independent Party,
Massachusetts, II, 141; Loco-
Foco Party, I, 462; National
Party of California, II, 255-
261;* National Party of Ohio,
II, 241.
See also, Association of Working
People of New Castle County;
Citizens' Alliance; Greenback
Labor Party, National; Green-
back Party ; Labor Party of
Illinois; Lalior Party of New-
ark; Leac-o of Deliverance;
National P'-rty; National Re-
form Ass'>ciation ; National
Union Labor Party; New
Democracy; New England Asso-
612
IISTDEX
ciation of Farmers, Mechanics,
and Other Workingmen; New
England Working Men's Asso-
ciation ; People's Party ; . Peo-
ple's Party of Erie, Pennsylva-
nia; People's Party of Wiscon-
sin ; Progressive Democracy ;
Progressive Labor Party; Rad-
ical Labor Party; Revolution-
ary Socialist Party; Social
Democratic Party; Social Dem-
ocratic Party of North Amer-
ica; Social Party; Socialist
Labor Party; United Labor
Party; Working Men's Party;
Workingmen's Party of Califor-
nia; W^orkingmen's Party of the
United States.
Pomeroy, Mark, editor Pomeroy's
Democrat, II, 246.
Pools, in eighties, II, 360.
Populist movement, see People's
Party.
Portsmouth, trade society, I, 72.
Post, Louis F., II, 451, 459.
Powderly, Terence V., II, 56, 163n,
166, 345n, 347, 351, 352, 370,
372, 374, 378, 379, 384, 408n,
412, 419, 427, 430, 431, 452, 464,
469, 483n, 491, 494.
Powers, Richard, II, 318, 321, 322,
323, 327, 328.
Prices, bread assize, I, 52, 53 ; build-
ing associations, I, 574; Civil
War, II, 5; conflict, I, 49; com-
petition, I, 63, 64; co-operation,
II, 37 ; coopers, I, 56 ; employ-
ers' associations, II, 27 ; fluctu-
ating, I, 11; II, 6 ; greenback-
ism, II, 121; in 1835, I, 348,
349; in 1836, I, 396, 397, 398,
435; in 1853, I, 488; labour
cost theory of exchange, I, 510;
legal tender acts, 1862, II, 14,
15; merchant-capitalist, I, 102,
106; merchants' associations, I,
133; price bargain dominates
wage bargain, I, 70; regulation,
I, 7, 50-52, 58-61, 68, 69; rents,
I, 491; term, I, 50; unionism,
I, 488; wages, I, 150, 396, 415,
416, 435, 582, 600; II, 15, 110;
Warren's time stores, I, 511;
Weitling's bank of exchange, I,
514.
Price-wage bargain, I, 22-36.
Printers, collective bargaining, I,
122; employer membership, I,
118; grievances, I, 114; locals,
I, 112, 113, 135, 136; organise.
I, 109; prices, I, 112.
See also. Typographical Societies.
Prison Labour, see Convict La-
bour.
Prison Reform, Auburn model, I,
346; in twenties, I, 345.
Producers' Exchange Association, I,
96.
Production, Brisbane, I, 499; cheap
methods, I, 154, 155; Engels'
theory, I, 27-29; foreign com-
petition, I, 72; Hobson's the-
ory', I, 28 ; inventions, I, 76, 77 ;
market theory, I, 26-29; mar-
kets, I, 6, 71 ; Marxian theory,
I, 26-29 ; merchant-capitalist,
I, 338-340; methods improved,
I, 76; sweat shop, I, 102-104;
Vandervelde's theory, I, 26-
29.
Progressive Democracy, established,
II, 454; named United Labor
Party, II, 455.
Progressive Labor Party, platform,
II, 460; nominate Swinton, II,
461.
Property, in business, II, 505, 506;
factor in industrial evolution,
I, 28, 29.
Property rights against personal
rights, I, 12.
Property values, influenced by immi-
gration, I, 10.
Prosperity, see Industrial Cycles.
Protectionism, I, 10, 17; apprentice-
ship, I, 56; arguments, I, 42;
bounties, T, 37, 38; capitalistic
system, I, 44; courts favour
manufacturers, I, 149; domestic
and Tradesmen, I, 72, 81;
General Society of Mechanics
and Tradesmen, I, 72, 81;
guilds, I, 46-48; Homestead
strike, II, 497n; limited, I, 43,
44; manufacturers' monopolies,
I, 40; non-importation agree-
ments, I, 40, 41, 72; Pennsylva-
nia Society to Encourage Manu-
factures, I, 74; producers re-
volt, I, 49, 50; tariff, I, 41-44,
74, 104; II, 220, 237, 294, 295,
298, 324, 327, 329; tariff and
child labour, I, 319; tariff and
factory system, I, 429 ; tariff
and wages, I, 443; tariff war,
II, 14.
INDEX
618
See also, Closed shop; Conspir-
acy ; Employers' association.
Providence, Association of Mechan-
ics and Manufacturers, I, 72,
76.
Provident Society of House Carpen-
ters', I, 85.
Pullman Company, strike, II, 502.
Putnam, Mary Kellogg, II, 126,
127.
Race problem, I, 10; versus class
problem, II, 252-257, 259.
See also, anti-Chinese Agitation;
Negro.
Radical Labor Party, Chicago, II,
467.
Railroad Brotherhood, II, 309^;
Adamson Act, II, 530n; Loco-
motive Engineers, II, 313; Loco-
motive Firemen, II, 313; Rail-
road Conductors, II, 186, 187,
313; theories, II, 309, 310.
Railways, see Markets, Extension of.
Railway Union, American, organ-
ised, II, 500, 501; Pullman
strike, II, 502, 503, 508.
Rand School of Social Sciences, II,
207, 209.
Redpath, James, establishes Pro-
gressive Democracy, II, 454.
Referendum, advocated, 1850, II,
210.
Reid, Whitelaw, Tribune boycott, II,
317.
Representative Assembly of Trades
and Labor Unions, organised in
California, II, 266.
Republik der Arbeiter, on co-opera-
tion, I, 567.
Retail merchant, advantage, I, 102.
Retail-shop stage, competition, I,
57; co-operation, I, 96; jour-
neymen, I, 56-60; price-main-
tenance, I, 60, 61 ; transition to
wholesale order period, I, 61, 62.
Revolutionary Socialist Party, or-
ganised, II, 292.
Revolutionary War, depression fol-
lowing, I, 83; improvements
following, I, 61 ; industry pro-
tected, I, 41, 42; Non-Importa-
tion Act, I, 72,
Rhode Island, protective tariff, I,
42; subsidised cloth industry, I,
37; suffrage, I, 319; ten-hour
law, I, 543; unions, 1863-1864,
II, 19.
Riots, anti-Catholic, I, 415; anti-
Chinese, II, 253; dock hands, I,
417; food, 1837, I, 463, 464;
gag law, II, 257, 258; Haymar-
ket Square, II, 392-394; Mar-
tinsburg, II, 187, 188; Milwau-
kee, II, 296; of 1877, II, 276;
Philadelphia coal heavers, I,
377; Pittsburgh, 1877, II, 188-
190; railway construction
hands, I, 416; Tompkins Square,
II, 220.
Robinson, William D., and locomo-
tive engineers, II, 63, 67.
Rochdale plan of co-operation, II,
205; in America, II, 40; Sover-
eigns of Industry, II, 173.
Roney, Frank, II, 258, 258n, 259,
266.
Roosevelt, Clinton, I, 463, 549.
Root, General Erastus, in New York
politics, I, 264-266.
Rosenberg, V. L., socialist leader,
II, 515, 516.
Roy, Andrew, miner, II, 248.
Ryckman, Lewis W., I, 537, 538,
548, 549.
Sabotage, early svndicalism, II, 298.
Saffin, William, 11, 152, 157.
Sailors, strikes, I, 110, 111.
Samuel, John, co-operationist, II,
25, 25n, 435.
Sand-lot meetings, California, II,
253, 255, 256.
San Francisco Chronicle, organ of
Workingmen's Party of Califor-
nia, II, 256; opposes Working-
men's Party of California, II,
251.
San Francisco, Citizens' Protective
Union, II, 263; municipal elec-
tion, II, 261. 262.
Sanial, Lucien, II, 455, 515, 517,
519.
Sayward, William H., II, 424, 479.
Schafer, John, political socialist, II,
274.
Schewitsch, Sergius E., socialist, II,
300, 446, 454, 456, 458, 459, 515.
Schilling, George, supports political-
socialists, II, 279, 289.
Schilling, Robert, II, 76, 161, 163,
614
INDEX
164, 165, 168, 170, 241, 244, 302,
336.
Schliigel, E., Lassallean, II, 9&, 102,
115.
Schmoller, Gustav, I, 20, 26, 27.
Schulze-Delitzsch, system of Co-
operation, see Co-operation.
Schwab, Justus, revolutionary so-
cialist, II, 291.
Schwab, Michael, pardoned, II, 393.
Scranton, elects Powderly mayor, II,
245.
Seamen's Protective Union, under
Roney's leadership, II, 266.
Seamen's Safety Bill, and Richard
Powers, II, 327.
Shaw, Justice, Commonwealth v.
Hunt decision, I, 411, 412.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act, Danbury
Hatters' Case, II, 530; Debs
case, II, 502, 503, 508; injunc-
tions, II, 505; unions, II, 508,
509.
See also. Conspiracy.
Ship-builders, strike, I, 110.
Ship Carpenters' and Caulkers' Na-
tional Union, and Knights of
Labor, II, 200.
Shoe Industry, cheap labour stage,
I, 103; collective bargaining, I,
121 ; cordwainers controversy,
I, 58; Lynn, I, 102, 105; organ-
isation, i, 109, 114; retail shop
period, I, f>2.
See. also, Cordwainers; Shoemak-
ers of Boston ; Strikes.
Shoemakers' National Assembly, se-
cede from Knights, II, 486.
Shoemakers of Boston, charter, I,
36, 47; fight competition, I, 45,
46.
Silk and Fur Hat Finishers' Union,
established, II, 313.
Simpson, Stephen, I, 21 In, 228.
Siney, John, II, 138, 152, 169, 180.
Single-tax, advocated, II, 327 ; Cath-
olic Church, II, 456; Henry
George, II, 448; socialism, II,
457-460.
Skidmore, Thomas, agrarian, I, 234-
240, 242, 243-245, 269n, 271,
362.
Socialism, Conditions: Chicago, II,
282, 283; depression, I, 619;
factional struggle, II, 233, 270,
449, 515, 516; Franco-Prussian
War and German movement, II,
225; progress since 1900, II,
532, 533; strikes, II, 253, 276,
277.
Connection with: American Fed-
eration of Labor, II, 512; Com-
munist Club, II, 206, 207; Gen-
eral German Workingmen'a
Union, II, 207, 208; Knights of
Labor, II, 519; New York cen-
tral labour bodies, II, 517;
Pittsburgh convention, 1881, II,
322; Progressive Labor Party,
II, 460; Radical Labor Party,
II, 467, 468; Red Interna-
tional, II, 300n; Strasser, II,
309n; trade unions, II, 202,
225, 226, 279n, 281, 308n,
514; United Hebrew Trades,
II, 518; Weydemeyer, I, 617,
618.
Theories: anarchism, II, 290-300;
eight-hour movement, II, 391;
evolution, I, 14, 21; II, 196,
204, 354; German forty-eight-
ers, II, 204; greenbackisra, II,
237, 239, 286-289; Henry George
movement, II, 454-45*7; Las-
salle, II, 205, 206; Marx, II,
205, 214, 215; militarism, II,
280, 281; political action versus
trade union action, II, 218, 219,
271, 272-275, 278-280, 283, 284,
287n, 301-309; voluntary, II,
210.
See also, Becker, Johann; Berger,
Victor; Carl, Conrad; Commu-
nist Club; De Leon, Daniel;
Douai, Adolph ; Eberhardt,
Karl ; German Workingmen'a
Union, General; German So-
cial Democratic Workingmen's
Union; Grottkau, Paul; Las-
salle, Ferdinand ; Lassallean-
ism; Marx, Karl; Meyer, Sieg-
fried; National Labor Union;
Rosenberg, V. L. ; Social Party ;
Sorge, F. A.; Strasser, Adolph;
Weydemeyer, Joseph.
Socialist, established in Chicago, II,
282.
Socialist Labor Party, convention,
II, 284, 285; De Leon, II, 517,
518; ebb, II, 300; factions, II,
291, 450, 516; grreenbackism,
II, 286-288; New York Central
labour bodies, II, 517; organ-
ised, II, 278, 519; political ac-
tion, II, 277-290, 401; princi-
ples, II, 278, 279, 446; Red In-
INDEX
615
ternational, II, 300n; United
Labor Party, II, 451.
See also, Workingmen's Party of
the United States.
Social Democratic Party, dissatis-
fied, II, 278; factional differ-
ences, II, 271; first labour con-
vention, II, 202; Milwaukee
election, II, 273, 277; organ-
ised, II, 218, 271; Union Con-
gress, II, 270.
Social Democratic Party of North
America, conventions, II, 231,
233, 235, 237, 238; organised,
II, 230; unionism, II, 232.
See also, Sozial-Demokrat.
Social Party, failure and re-or-
ganisation, II, 209; of New
York, II, 207; programme, II,
208.
Social-Republicans, and General
German Workingmen's Union,
II, 207.
"Society," term for trade union, I,
14.
"Sojourners," in Knights of Labor,
II, 198, 342.
Solidarisme, I, 17.
Sons of Vulcan, Amalgamated Asso-
ciation of Iron and Steel Work-
ers, II, 174; bargaining advan-
tage of puddler, II, 80; growth,
II, 47 ; sliding scale agreement,
II, 80.
Sorge, F. A., I, 19, 207n, 209, 209n,
210, 211, 214-216, 216n, 221,
270, 276, 302, 304.
Sovereign, James R., II, 494, 495,
519.
Sovereigns of Industry, activities,
II, 173, 174; constitution, II,
173; co-operation, II, 171, 172;
failure, II, 175; Industrial Con-
gresses, II, 163, 175; member-
ship, 1874-1877, II, 173 ; origin,
II, 172, 196; purposes, II, 172;
trade unions, II, 174.
Sozial-Demokrat, advocates Lassel-
lean platform, II, 234; becomes
Arheiterstimme, II, 271; Otto
Walster editor, II, 233; party
organ, II, 232.
See also, Arheiterstimme.
Sozialist, Der, advocates political ac-
tion, II, 449; eight-hour move-
ment, II, 515.
Speyer, Carl, and International La-
bor Union, II, 302.
Speyer, J. G., and Trades and La-
bour Council, II, 226.
Spies, August, anarchist, II, 290,
291n, 294, 296, 387, 392-394.
St. Louis, central labour union, II,
389n; socialism, II, 282;
strikes, II, 367n; tailors organ-
ise, I, 352, 353.
St. Patrick's Benefit Society, I, 85.
Standard, The, and Catholic Church,
II, 456.
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, at Labor
Congress, 1868, II, 127.
Stevens, Uriah Smith, II, 197, 197n,
244, 247, 335, 347.
Steward, Ira, II, 16, 56, 86, 87, 89,
91, 92, 106, 138, 139, 140, 143,
280, 302, 303.
Stiebling, George C, II, 210, 216,
217, 232.
Stone Cutters' Company, established,
I, 69 ; protects quality of goods,
I, 83.
Stove Founders' National Defense
Association, policy, II, 480, 481.
Stove Manufacturers, National Asso-
ciation of, arbitration, II, 480.
Strasser, Adolph, II, 217, 217n, 218,
231, 270, 271, 274, 302, 305, 306,
308, 309, 309n, 325, 400, 403,
404.
Streeter, A. J., II, 468, 469, 490.
Strikes, Conditions: Chinese, II, 146,
149; funds, I, 123, 124, 442; II,
59, 70, 311; immigration, I,
488, 597; injunction, II, 505-
508; markets, I, 440, 441;
store-order payment, I, 488;
Violence, I, 412; walking dele-
gates, I, 126.
List: Baldwin Locomotive Works,
II, 9; bakers, 1741, I, 53, 54;
bookbinders, I, 399; bricklayers,
II, 33, 123, 152, 312; Burling-
ton, II, 474, 475, 507; carpen-
ters, I, 69, 127, 128, 158-162,
186-189, 388, 389, 430, 466; II,
476, 477; cartmen, I, 55; cigar
makers, II, 71, 72, 177, 178, 306,
363, 400; closed shop, I, 412;
coal heavers, I, 417; collateral,
I, 126; cordwainers, I, 105, 109,
128, 140, 144, 398, 399; during
Civil War, II, 23; early, I, 25,
109, 111; eight-hour, II, 156,
385, 476-478; factory opera-
tives, I, 419, 420; freight
handlers, II, 349; general, I,
616
INDEX
389-392; II, 298, 366; hatters,
I, 338 ; Homestead, II, 473, 495-
497; in 1833-1837, I, 478-484;
in 1850-1852, I, 576, 597; in
1853, 1854, I, 607n; in 1877, II,
276; in 1880, 1881, II, 316; in
1886, II, 417, 417n, 418; in
1888, II, 474; longshoremen, II,
420-422; miners, II, 184, 185,
334, 363, 478, 497, 498, 499, 501,
508, 525, 528 ; moulders, I, 565 ;
II, 7, 51, 52, 316; navy yards,
I, 394, 395; packing industry,
II, 419; printers, I, 136, 137,
412n, 450, 552, 612; quarrymen,
II, 367 ; railroad, I, 622 ; II, 64,
186-190, 196, 334, 367-369, 382-
384, 502, 503, 508, 528; stove
mounters, II, 363, 481 ; switch-
men, II, 498; sympathetic, I,
585; tailors, I, 163, 164, 337,
368, 408, 409, 576; telegraphers,
II, 384; ten-hour, I, 386, 387;
textile, I, 183; II, 178, 304, 362,
363, 418, 420-423, 523, 524;
wage, I, 156, 157, 381-383, 395-
399; weavers, I, 313; women, I,
356, 418, 420-423.
Opinions: agrarianism, I, 522;
employers' associations, II, 31,
51, 52; Greeley, Horace, I, 576;
Knights of Labor, II, 347-350;
labour congresses, II, 98, 123,
129, 160; public, II, 190; St.
Crispin, II, 77-78; socialism,
II, 253, 276; trades' union, I,
363, 364, 371, 375, 377.
Suffrage, caucus system, I, 233;
democracy, I, 177, 178; exten-
sion, I, 175, 318, 319; man-
hood, I, 5, 20; personal rights
versus propertv rights, I, 12;
woman's, I, 297; II, 129, 211.
Sunday laws, repeal advocated, II,
208.
Syndicalism, Central Labor Union,
II, 387, 388; German trade
unions, II, 386, 387; Spies and
Parsons, II, 297.
See also, International, Black.
Sweating, introduction, I, 7, 102-
104; unions, I, 104-107;
women, I, 354.
Swinton, John, I, 19; II, 220, 363,
364, 365, 446, 447, 461.
Sylvis, Ben F., at industrial con-
vention, 1871, II, 154.
Sylvis, William H., II, 6, 7, 11, 12,
23, 25, 39, 49, 51, 53, 82n, 96,
111, 115, 116, 118, 119, 124, 125,
126, 129, 130, 131, 133, 137,
237n.
Syndicalism, meaning, I, 15, 16.
See also. Anarchism.
Tagehlait, Philadelphia, labour
daily, II, 278.
Tailors, organise in St. Louis, I,
352; strike, 1850, I, 597.
See also. Tailors, Benevolent Soci-
ety of Journeymen.
Tailors, Benevolent Society of Jour-
neymen, employment, I, 339;
transformation, I, 337.
Tailoresses of New York, strike, I,
156.
Tanners' and Curriers' Union, Na-
tional, II, 318.
Tariff, see Protectionism.
Tax Exemptions, stimulate business,
I, 37.
Taylor, Daniel B., at New York In-
dustrial congress, I, 554n.
Teamsters' Union, I, 8.
Telegraphers, aided by Knights of
Labor, II, 345.
Tenement House, cigar making, II,
178.
Tennessee, coal miners* strike, II,
498, 499; unions, in 1864, II, 19.
Terre Haute, conference, II, 318-
320.
Textile workers, organise, I, 111.
Thompson vi lie, conspiracy case, I,
313, 314.
Townsend, Robert, I, 411, 425, 427,
429, 463.
Trade agreements, anthracite min-
ers, II, 525; arbitration versus,
II, 527; bituminous miners, II,
179-181, 425; building trades,
II, 479, 480; employers, II, 33,
415, 416, 424; "exclusive," II,
32; impossibility, II, 359; Na-
tional Civic Federation, II, 528 ;
puddler's sliding scale, II, 80,
179; spread, II, 524; stove
moulders, II, 480, 481, 482;
theory, I, 14, 15; II, 520; trust,
II, 526; unions, II, 33, 36.
See also, Bargaining Power.
Trade Courts, early protective or-
ganisations, I, 80, 81.
INDEX
617
Trade Societies, date of appearance,
1833-1837, I, 472-477.
Trades' and Jjabor Council of New
York, organised, II, 226.
Trades' Assemblies, boycott, II, 22,
23, 24; convention, II, 35, 36,
38, 95 ; co-operation, II, 23 ;
disappearance, II, 177; employ-
ers' associations, II, 26, 27;
federation, II, 34, 38, 39, 94, 96;
functions, II, 23, 311, 312; In-
ternational Industrial, II, 36-
39; multiplication. It, 310;
Philadelphia, II, 24-26, 39;
politics, II, 38.
Trades' Union, beginning, I, 12, 358,
365-368, 424; child labour, I,
428, 432; conspiracy, I, 408,
409; conventions,' I, 424, 430-
437, 469-471; co-operation, I,
468; education, I. 427, 432;
employers, I, 368, 371, 372; fac-
tory workers, I, 374, 418, 428,
429; finances, I, 434; growth,
I, 358, 359, 379, 380; hours of
labour, I, 433, 536 ; influence, I,
438; jurisdictional disputes, I,
376, 377; land policy, I, 428;
labour press, I, 360; Mechanics'
Union, I, 375; membership, I,
424; need, I, 357; organisation,
I, 427, 431 ; politics, I, 361, 362,
426, 427; prison labour, I, 369-
371; riots, I, 377, 378; specu-
lation, I, 435; strikes, I, 363,
371, 390; Tammany, I, 461, 462;
term, I, 14; women's labour, I,
436, 437.
Trainmen's Union, organised, II,
186.
Transcendentalism, colonies, I, 505;
forms, I, 494.
See also, Anarchism.
Transportation, see Markets, Exten-
sion of.
Trevellick, Richard, II, 16, 29, 29n,
35, 115, 118, 122, 124, 126, 129,
130, 131, 133, 137, 150, 152, 153,
168, 170, 244.
Tribune, New York, boycotted, II,
317.
Troup, Alexander H., II, 97, 99, 126,
133, 170.
Truck and order system, abolition,
II, 324.
Truth, The, Haskell, II, 299.
Tucker, Benjamin R., individualistic
anarchist, I, 17.
Tucker, Gideon J., greenback candi-
date, II, 246, 247.
Typographia, German - American,
Cleveland convention, 1882, II,
326; established, II, 313; so-
cialism, II, 226.
See also, Fowitz, Gustav.
Typographical Association, National,
cause for organisation, I, 340.
Typographical Society, Albany, I,
113; Baltimore, I, 115.
Typographical Society, Franklin, I,
109; aided, I, 112; wage scale,
I, 126.
Typographical Society, National, ap-
prenticeship policy, I, 451;
book publisher, I, 447, 448; cap-
italism, political, I, 444-446;
conventions, I, 450, 452; lo-
cals, 1836, I, 443; organisation,
I, 620, 621; "two-thirders," I,
448, 449; wage policy, I,
451.
Typographical Society, New York,
apprenticeship, I, 116; benefits,
I, 124, 125, 137; collective bar-
gaining, I, 603; depression, I,
136, 456; education, I, 249, 250;
employers, I, 119; evolution, I,
335, 336; grievances, I, 114,
115; incorporation, I, 86, 109;
minimum wage, I, 131 ; scabs, I,
131.
See also, Strikes.
Typographical Society, Philadelphia,
apprenticeship, I, 116; benefits,
I, 85; collective bargaining, I,
120, 121; competition of women,
I, 343, 344; co-operation with
New York local, I, 113; evolu-
tion, I, 335; Franklin Society,
I, 112; organise, I, 109.
See also. Strikes.
Typographical Society, Washington,
apprenticeship, I, 342; Duff
Green, I, 450 ; economic purpose,
I, 137; strike, I, 451; women
labour, I, 344.
Typographical Union, International,
apprenticeship, II, 83; boycott,
II, 317, 365; conditional mem-
bership, II, 58; conventions, II,
97, 319, 326; established, II,
58, 313; federation, II, 60, 61,
157; growth, II, 45, It I, 308,
313; Negro, II, 135, 311;
Northwestern Publishers' Asso-
ciation, II, 61; political action,
618
INDEX
II, 318; strike fund, II, 59, 60.
See also. Strikes.
U
Unemployment, Chinese, II, 148,
262, 263; Civil War, II, 10, 13;
currency policies, II, 123;
hours of labour, I, 234; in 1829,
I, 170, 171; in 1837, I, 457, 458;
in 1857-1863, I, 488; II, 204;
in 1869, II, 123; in 1873,
II, 219; in 1877, II, 253, 257;
legal tender acts, 1862, II, 15;
organisation of Chicago unem-
ployed, II, 200; Parsons, A.
R., II, 389; riot of Tompkins
Square, II, 220; union employ-
ment offices, I, 587, 588; Weit-
ling's bank of exchange, I, 514.
Union Congress, Chicago as centre,
II, 272; Philadelphia, II, 270;
restrictions, II, 273, 278.
Union Society of Carpenters, I, 110.
Union Trade Society of Journeymen
Tailors, competition of women,
I, 344; organised, I, 337.
United Cabinet Makers, New York,
II, 208.
United German Benefit Society, I,
84.
United German Trades, type of city
federation, II, 313.
United Labor Party, conventions, II,
455, 456, 459; dwindles, II, 491;
in 1887 elections, II, 467; plat-
form, II, 460; single tax, II,
468; socialists, II, 457, 458;
Union Labor Party, II, 465.
United Workers of America, II, 222,
223, 234.
Universal Brotherhood, The, II, 196.
Unskilled, Condition, 1829, I, 171;
Conflict with skilled ; cigar mak-
ers, II, 400, 401; District As-
sembly 49, II, 399; in shoe in-
dustry, II, 77 ; iron workers, II,
407; Knights and trade union-
ists, II, 396-398, 403, 404, 427.
Organisation: attitude, II, 323;
class hate, II, 374; failure, II,
427 ; Illinois quarrymen's
strike, II, 367; in 1884, 1885,
II, 357, 362; International La-
bor Union, II, 280, 302; imem-
ployed, II, 389, 390.
Riots: I, 412, 416, 417.
See also. Factory System; Indus-
trial Workers of the World;
Knights of Labor.
Van Buren, issues ten-hour order, l)
395.
Van Patten Phillip, II, 272-286.
Virginia, mechanics aided, I, 40, 43;
monopoly grants, I, 40, 43; tar-
iff, I, 42; unions, 1863, 1864, II,
19.
Vorhote, official organ, II, 228, 271;
on anarchism, II, 296; on co-
operation, II, 230; on green-
backism, II, 287; on Interna-
tional Labor Union, II, 280; on
militarism, II, 281; on trade
imionism, II, 230, 275, 283.
W
Wages, Conditions: banks, I, 459;
bread assize, I, 52, 53; cheap
labour, I, 347; Chinese labour,
II, 264, 265; combination to
raise, I, 140-143 ; contract work,
I, 67, 68; co-operation, II, 53;
depression, I, 456, 457, 614, 615;
II, 185, 361 ; employers' associa-
tions, II, 27, 28; free land, I,
527; growth of cities, II, 359;
in 1850, I, 582; in 1854, I, 610,
611; merchant-capitalist, I,
339; monopoly, I, 219; piece
work, I, 67, 583, 584; prices, I,
150, 396, 415, 435, 600; II, 15,
110; regulation, I, 7, 50-52, 85,
86, 87, 126, 580, 583; scarcity
of labour, I, 128; strikes, I,
110, 111, 156, 363, 381-383, 395-
401, 418, 422, 432, 424n, 441,
599; II, 78, 178, 184, 186, 312,
362-364, 367, 368, 496; sunrise
to sunset day, I, 171, 172; tar-
iff, I, 443; ten-hour day, I, 311;
trade agreement, I, 607 ; trades'
union, I, 7, 358, 433; unionism,
modern, I, 575, 613; II, 18, 20,
177.
Occupations: apprentices, I, 592;
carpenters, I, 359; cigar mak-
ers, I, 621 ; cigar makers,
women, I, 343; construction
gangs, I, 415; cordwainers, I,
442; cotton operatives, I, 111;
engineers, locomotive, II, 62;
house painters, I, 608; labour-
INDEX
619
ers, city, I, 415, 416; machin-
ists, II, 57; moulders, II, 49,
51, 52; printers, I, 448, 451,
580, 581; puddlers, I, 552;
women, I, 354, 355, 442, 443.
Theories: abolition, II, 295; An-
drews, S. P., I, 518; collective
bargaining, I, 603, 604; price-
bargain and wage-bargain, I,
70; Steward, II, 89, 90, 303.
Wage-work, Biicher's use of term,
I, 33.
Walker, Amasa, and hours of la-
bour, II, 107.
Walker, Isaac P., I, 551, 558n, 561.
Walker v. Cronin, and expectancy as
property, II, 506.
Walking delegates, first, I, 126.
Walls, H. J., I, 162, 176.
Walsh, Mike, I, 527, 528-530, 537,
561.
Walster, Otto, II, 232, 274, 278.
Waltershausen, August Sartorius
von, cited, II, 310, 311, 312.
Ward, Osborne, at Alleghany con-
vention, II, 285.
Warehouses, marketing agencies, I,
93, 94; co-operative, I, 95-99;
development, I, 100; inade-
quacy, I, 101.
Warren, Josiah, I, 17, 18, 96, 99,
494, 511; II, 138.
Weavers' Union, organised, I, 156.
Weitling movement, programme, 11,
204.
Weitling, Wilhelm, I, 17, 512, 513,
514, 515, 566, 577.
Welch, William, Philadelphia cord-
wainer, I, 60.
West, William, II, 210, 213.
Western Federation of Miners, in-
dustrial union, II, 500.
Western Greenbottle Blowers' Na-
tional Union, established, II,
313.
Weydemeyer, Joseph, I, 617, 617n,
618; II, 204, 207, 227.
Weydemeyer, Otto, II, 237, 270, 271,
302.
Whaley, J. C. C, II, 102, 112, 115,
116, 129.
Wholesale jobber, appearance, II, 5;
legal tender acts, II, 14; su-
premacy, II, 359.
Wholesale-order period, building
trades, I, 66; class struggle, I,
65, 66; markets, I, 61-63; mer-
chant-capitalist follows, I, 103;
production, I, 71; retail-shop
period, I, 61, 62.
Wilson, Charles, locomotive engi-
neer, II, 63-68.
Window Glass Workers' Association,
protest against contract immi-
grant labour, II, 372.
Windt, John, and George Henry
Evans, I, 527.
Winn, A. M., II, 147, 148n, 149,
162.
Wisconsin eight-hour law, II, 108;
greenbackism, II, 244, 248;
People's Party, II, 462, 463;
unions, 1864, II, 19.
Wolf, George, I, 459, 460.
Wollstonecraft, Mary, in Lowell
strike, I, 423.
Women in labour movement, at la-
bour conventions, I, 555; II,
101, 127, 133, 277, 328, 330;
competition, I, 339, 342, 343,
436, 437, 595; co-operation, I,
566; equal pay for equal work,
II, 114; hours, I, 540, 542, 543;
in factories, I, 156, 172-174,
422; organisation, I, 350, 351,
353, 355, 356, 443; II, 128, 328,
418; strikes, I, 418-423; trade
union regulation, I, 596; wages,
I, 344, 354.
See also, Anthony, Susan B. ; Bag-
ley, Sarah G. ; Claflin, Tennes-
see; McDonald, Mary; Parsons,
Lucy; Putnam, Mary Kellogg;
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady; Woll-
stonecraft, Mary ; Woodhull,
Victoria; Wright, Frances.
Woodhull, Victoria, suffragist, II,
210, 211.
Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly, or-
gan American section of I. W.
A., II, 211, 212.
Workingmen's Advocate, The, char-
acter, II, 16; on education, I,
250-252; Tammany, I, 270;
trades' assembly supports, II,
24.
Working Men's Party, Issues: agra-
rianism, I, 211-213, 271-273;
banking system, I, 330; educa-
tion, I, 251, 252, 274, 299, 300,
327, 328; imprisonment for
debt, I, 328; in 1828, I, 216;
in 1829, 1830, I, 217, 218-229,
274-284, 295-299 ; mechanics'
liens, I, 329; tariff, I, 294, 295;
woman's suffrage, I, 297.
620
INDEX
Organisation: candidates, I, 203,
208, 209, 210; class alignment,
I, 234; committee of fifty, I,
237, 238, 243, 244; conventions,
I, 196, 197, 201, 263-265, 266;
democracy, I, 331, 332; election
strength, I, 198, 199, 203-216,
239-241, 266-269; growth, I,
195, 205, 206, 207, 223, 244, 246,
255-262; old parties, I, 199-
202, 210, 211.
See also. New England Working
Men's Association.
Workingmen's Party of California,
conventions, II, 256, 257, 258;
election strength, II, 259-262;
end, II, 264; greenbackism, II,
263, 264; platform, II, 255;
sand-lot meetings, II, 255, 256;
split, II, 259, 260.
See also, Kearney, Denis.
Workingmen's Party of the United
States, factions, II, 271-274; or-
ganisation, II, 27 1 ; political ac-
tion, II, 270, 272, 277-290;
strikes, II, 276, 277.
See also. Socialist Labor Party.
Workingmen's Trade and Labor
Union of San Francisco, organ-
ised, II, 254.
Wright, Frances, I, 19, 213, 240,
240n, 250, 272, 284n, 293.
Wright, James L., II, 25, 25n, 236,
243, 247.
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History of labour in the
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